Creature Comforts
by Torenza
Summary: AU. Inu.Kag. Inuyasha’s in trouble again. Not only has he picked a fight with the Grim Reaper’s best friend, he’s also now in the dog house. Throw in some time travelling wells and a girl rumoured to cure dogification and he may have his answer...
1. Old Magic

**Disclaimer: **Until Rumiko Takahashi finally hands over the deed to "Inuyasha", I am still going to be the penniless, unemployed and uneducated 17 year old that I am right now. However - I did invent the word "Dogification". But why I should be proud of that, I have no idea.

**Author's Notes: **If anyone's read Harry Potter, then you'll already be familiar with the "Grim" legend. J.K. Rowling uses the myth that the Grim is a large black dog that brings omens of death to whoever sees it.

The 'Grim' which is also known as 'Barghest', 'Padfoot', 'Devil Dog' or 'The Black Dogs', is the most widely believed folklore in Britain, which originated from North Yorkshire (only a hour or so away from where I'm sitting now... ) While the modern belief is that they haunt graveyards, gateways, doorways and bring death omens, in the olden days their meaning was a little less specific. It was sometimes believed that people who had sinned in life became spectre dogs to guard the graveyards in a way to repent themselves, and that if someone in your family was near death, it would give you a little visit to let you know (if you saw the Barghest, it does not necessarily mean _you _will die). They're usually terrifying, monstrous, as 'big as bears', with abnormally large fangs and claws. Usually their eyes are glowing red, but I've seen some Barghest described as just abnormally large black dogs (six foot in length).

The one particular myth that I've incorporated into the story is the legend of Lady Howard who sinned terribly in life, and so when she died she was refused passage into heaven and hell, and had to remain on earth in the form of a ghost dog that was forced to run with the dead every night to a Castle. Once there she had to pluck a single blade of grass from the moat and then run all the way to a river far south and wash the blade of grass. Only until she'd plucked every single blade of grass from the moat would she be able to pass on into the afterlife.

Not surprisingly, she's yet to complete her task.

* * *

**Creature Comforts**

**_Chapter One_**

**_Old Magic_**

* * *

_I__'__m so pathetic it__'__s not even funny anymore_…

After all, what was more pathetic than being stranded outside in the rain with a stomach that wouldn't let you forget it was hungry? Well… maybe if it wasn't for the fact that he was whining, he wouldn't have been so pathetic…

There was also the fact that he was a dog. There wasn't much lower to stoop than to be an actual dog.

Of course, he hadn't always been a dog - oh no! He'd actually been a person once with two legs, hair placed in strategic spots and a decent brain in his head. He'd also had hands back then… oh, how he missed hands…

He'd had quick hands. Perhaps, in retrospect, too quick. They'd got him into trouble more than once, lifting the odd coin from the odd purse. They'd even wielded the weapon that had shed the blood of his 'beloved' parents.

Karma was funny that way. You make _one _mistake like that and fate decides that it would be hilarious to stick you in the body of a dog for as long as it takes to complete an impossible task.

Yes, technically he was dead. It was his punishment for the sins he'd committed in life; to be trapped in the form of a semi-corporeal hound that was pledged to guard the dead. Not only that, but if he ever wanted to go back to colour vision and all-knowing human intelligence, he had to run with the dead every night to Okawa castle to pluck _one _frickin' blade of grass from the moat and then run all the way back to the river half a mile away to drop that blade in the water.

Apparently, once every blade of grass was plucked and washed, he'd be able to pass on peacefully for having repented in his punishment.

But have you any _idea_ of just how many blades of grass there were around Okawa castle?

Water was leaking into his sensitive ears again. With an agitated huff he shook his head savagely and scratched at his perky ears with a hind leg. He absently licked his muddy paw before letting it sink to the ground again. Another long sigh drawled from his mouth, and he looked around bleakly.

He was such a pathetic creature… existing only to make the living piss themselves at the mere sight of him; existing only to run with ghosts each night on a hopeless task. By now, he would quite willingly sell his soul to be given the chance to move on - even if he was moved straight into hell. _Anything _was better than the life he led now…

Although, he did have some magic at the tips of his claws. A gift he'd inherited from his former life.

There was a chance that he would be able to… _perform… _a little trick in order to get back among the living again and cheat the powers that had placed him where he was. All he needed was a human with enough of a connection to the demon realm to provide a strong enough link to make a little switch. Preferably, a human with some kind of youki would be perfect… but how many humans were walking around with youki flowing around them unless they were actually some kind of youkai?

His nose twitched…

Youki?

"Damn **bitch!**" came a crude yell through the pelting rain.

The dog snapped his head towards the sound of running footsteps. Faded human shouts rang in the distance, but he could already see their quarry.

A dog demon…? No, perhaps not. There was too much human in him… but he was certainly radiating waves of youki like any upper-class, full blooded youkai ever could.

Excitement bubbled up inside him, and in a heartbeat the canine was on his feet. The approaching hanyou was injured on his left shoulder; he could already smell the blood flowing from the wound. But that was only a small defect on an otherwise perfect specimen. He may have been young but there was power in him, a strong power… and a great deal of turbulent emotions. The rain dampened his sense of smell, but even that didn't stop him from catching the stench of anger and teenage angst inside the boy as he ran past.

The dog lopped after him easily, his tall, skinny frame barely more than a vague black shadow passing through the rain. The boy was fast, but it wasn't hard keeping up with him. In no time at all, those distant human voices faded completely, and then it was just the dog and the boy.

They carried on through the waterlogged fields of grain and then over the flooded rice paddies. The hanyou never once realised he was being followed and kept on running through the wind and rain. Musingly, the dog wondered why he was so upset. Perhaps he'd just been snuck up on and was angry that he'd been injured…

They fled into the forest as the overcast sky grew darker with approaching night. The dog saw this and put on a burst of speed… once midnight came, he would be called to an entirely different chase and lose track of the hanyou. Sure, he might be able to pick up his scent in the morning to trail him again, but with the rain washing away all the paths of scent and the boy being a rather fast demi-dog himself, the canine didn't wish to risk it.

He wanted that boy's body _now_.

But not in _that _sense…

Perhaps it was a good thing, but at that moment the wind took a violent change of course, sweeping up from behind him with a good tail-wind. But it meant he was no longer downwind, and in an instant the boy had his scent.

The hanyou stopped running and turned.

Very well… confrontational was the way it was going to be. He slowed down and came to a stop as well, only a few metres from the boy. The mere sight of him was usually enough to send most weak-hearted mortals dropping to the ground like stones. It wasn't that he was ugly… well, that's what he kept telling himself. But when a skeletal dog so black that his lank, greasy fur seemed to absorb all the light and warmth that touched it stared at you with the most piercing grey eyes in all the four realms, you'd be a little unhinged, too. He was tall for a dog, and rather tough looking, but under the masses of fur he was thin and fragile.

Irritatingly, the hanyou saw this and wasn't even the slightest bit scared.

He had no idea who he was…

"Go home to your master, you stupid mutt." he spat callously, then turned to leave again.

"Stupid boy…" the canine muttered… not that the boy would understand him. He was too human. And humans always had the annoying tendency to completely ignore the things they could not easily grasp.

If that ignoramus of a child thought he could walk out on the current caretaker of the dead, he was sadly mistaken!

"Want a job, do you?" He lopped after the hanyou, tail wagging deceivingly with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. "You see, I have this wonderful job. You get to scare the shit out of people day and night and since you'll be dead, you'll never have to worry about starving to death –it's impossible!"

"Go away!"

The canine had to dodge a half-hearted blow aimed at his head. He would not be deterred. Instead, he padded around to walk on the hanyou's other side. "You'll get to run up and down the country day and night trying to complete this hopeless task. Every time someone is due for a trip to the afterlife, you get to pay him a little visit to say farewell. Don't worry if people start taking you for a bad omen, it's perfectly natural!"

All the time he was discreetly weaving a spell of his own youki around the hanyou. Sharper wits would have noticed by now, but this particular hanyou, while being quite tough looking, was not the sharpest sickle blade in the shed.

Not long now…

"I said beat it, mongrel!"

"I am pedigree, thank you very much!"

"Go fetch a stick or something!"

"No, you go fetch - you're more of a dog than I ever will be!"

Obviously, the hanyou was getting annoyed at being followed by a rather large, smelly dog that kept mumbling little growling sounds at him. Just because he had a little canine blood in him didn't mean he automatically felt kinship with every bloody dog he saw in his life. That would be like a brunette getting excited at every other brown haired person in the world.

The canine knew round about then that if he didn't beat it, he would be getting a rather nasty scratch somewhere on his body. Well, that was ok. It wouldn't be his body for very much longer.

He stopped short, ran in a quick circle, dragging the edges of the spell into an enclosed shape. He then planted his two large paws in the mud at the edge of the invisible ring proceeded to bark his head off.

Clearly confused, the hanyou turned to look at him. "What the hell's your problem?"

"One step closer and you'll find out, kid!" He continued to bark furiously.

Almost as if he'd understood, the hanyou boy stepped forward… directly into the spell.

Sucks to be a moron, huh?

With one curling snarl, the canine leapt forward and fastened his fangs around the boy's wrist. The hanyou flinched slightly, but for such a savage wound he seemed more surprised than pained. That was good. He was too stunned to throw him off.

His plan ground into motion, his youki clashing with the boy's, confronting and merging, then separating and exchanging. The physical link with the boy's blood provided him with the means to send his essence through the link, and drive the hanyou's into the space he'd just vacated.

It was a lovely transition. He felt his arms again, his hands, the rain on his face, and the wind whipping through his drenched hair. The world was back in full blooming colour, despite it being such a dark and groggy evening with hardly an ounce of colour to spare. He felt everything the way it should have been… and felt the wonderful clarity the space of a human mind provided him with.

He also felt a silly dog clinging to his wrist.

"Off with you!" He snapped his other hand out and slapped the dog's nose. "I don't want you damaging this body any more than you have already."

The dog was completely stunned. It wobbled precariously on its four legs, blinking rapidly and trembling at all the foreign sensations it was probably feeling. Unfortunately, it didn't take all that long to cotton on to what had just happened. It's real hanyou body had been snatched and it was now a dog.

As marvellous as the new hanyou thought the arrangement was, the former hanyou was not so pleased.

His lips curled back, baring an array of lovely white, and needle sharp, teeth. A growl started in the back of his throat, then worked its way up to become a ferocious, inhuman sound that would have had any nearby mortals keeling over in fright.

The newly made hanyou cast an unimpressed look over the body he'd used to inhabit. He called that scary? Hah! He'd made scarier sounds when he'd had the dog flu!

But then the boy lunged at him, aiming directly for his throat despite the fact that he was near turning on himself. Rather than let the boy desecrate his body any further, the former dog leapt into the nearest tree and leered down at the ballistic canine beneath him. The dog's entire body jerked with the force of his barks and snarls and he bounced on his front paws, desperately snapping at the body snatcher.

"I'm sure once you calm down you'll enjoy your new form!" he said cheerfully. "It's not so bad being a dog… once you get used to it."

A lot of furious barking sounded below him. The hanyou smiled down at him happily, listening to the boy's ferocious shouting. He was demanding his body back, bemused at what had happened, and not understanding any of it at all. It was quite funny, really…

"I'd love to stay and chat all day, but I have another life to live now." He grinned. "Yours, in fact!"

More incensed barking. Didn't he ever shut up?

But just as he was about to turn and bound away to leave the boy bitching in the mud, he remembered something and leaned down. "Oh, by the way, some time around midnight you may start feeling a little tingly. Don't worry, that's just the dead calling you."

The barking stopped and intense amber eyes gazed up at him. It was hard to decipher a dog's expression, but by the tilt in his head he could guess the boy was confused. For a moment, he wondered about the amber eyes… he'd been sure they were grey… but maybe he'd taken those with him?

"Don't worry about it," He waved a clawed hand. "You'll know what to do when the time comes. You'll take like a duck to water, I'm sure. Must dash!"

Without a backwards glance and only a little cackle of mirth, he took off through the trees, faster than an arrow…

The boy hadn't a chance of pursuing. At least, not when the chase was about to begin.

……………………………………………………

"Oh, look. Here comes Miss Twinkle Toes and her lap dog." Miroku yawned widely as he eyed the duo coming down the steps of the Shrine.

Sango was sitting beside him on the wall along the opposite side of the road. She caught Miroku's contagious yawn. "I swear you're obsessed with that girl…" she told him dryly.

"Not as obsessed as that little beast is." Miroku sniffed. "Did you know that the little yapper bit my ankle the other day?"

"Well, you _were _teasing him." she pointed out, watching the girl collect the mail from the mail box beside the Shrine's first archway. Behind her, the happy little sod of a Yorkshire Terrier panted and skipped around her heels. "What a loser…" Sango finally commented. "You must have very little self-respect if you're willing to kiss the ground she walks on. I mean, that little fluff ball would probably make breakfast for her - if he could."

"It gives him hope, Sango dear." Miroku told her. "I say we might as well let him be."

"Hah!" Sango laughed dryly. "And I wonder what will happen when she finds out that her loveable little puppy is in actual fact a former newspaper boy?"

"Oh dear… she might not like that." Miroku let his mind wander. The poor girl would be frightfully embarrassed… he had to wonder about all the times she'd gotten changed in front of the mutt without knowing that he was actually a male of her own species.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Sango said curtly.

"Oh - oh look!" Miroku directed her attention back towards the pair collecting their morning post. "They're doing tricks."

The girl held up her hand in a stopping gesture, a soft command floating across the empty road. "Sit, boy."

"Oh, look how well he sits for her…" Even Sango sounded mocking.

Miroku joined in the jeering. "Now roll over, there's a good boy. What a lark he is…"

"Wait for it… here comes the beg." Sango said evenly and they both hissed and twitched in unison as the dog happily got onto his haunches, paws in the air, and prostrated himself for a little praise.

The girl was pleased. "There's a good boy!" She patted his head. "Now let me just get my mail…" And she turned away again.

"Honestly - has he no dignity?" Miroku complained loudly. "I mean, if I was stuck in the body of a dog - thank the Lord I'm not - would you see _me _sucking up to the nearest female to catch a titbit or the occasional sweetie?"

"Yes." Sango said bluntly.

"At least I'd go about it with more grace and tact." He scratched his neck thoughtfully as his gaze wandered. "I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to know that I was actually a human and just _pretending _to be a dog. How low is that…? And why hang around _that _particular girl, I ask myself. What's so special about _her,_ other than the fact that she has rather extraordinary legs-"

"Uh, Miroku…?"

"And very nice dimples on either side of her mouth-"

"Miroku…?

"Her hair could do with a little brushing…"

"Miroku - I really think you should be paying attention to this-"

"But that bouncing bust is not to be laughed at either - _very _nice! And those lovely chocolate eyes would melt any man in an-"

_"__Miroku!__"_

"What?" he blinked at his companion who was gazing across the street intently.

There was a short scream opposite them, but whatever had happened, had happened already. Miroku had missed it. He turned just in time to see the Shrine girl staggering against the mail box, staring after a rather naked young man who was running in the other direction.

"What happened?" he asked Sango quickly.

She seemed to bristle, and even sounded slightly sick. "He turned back."

"_What?!__"_

The girl seemed to be recovering from her shock of the naked man and was beginning to look around. "Beau! Beau!" She was calling her dog. "Where are you?!"

"I guess… she didn't see him turn." Miroku stated grimly, Sango just blinked her agreement. "I can't _believe _it… he changed back… after all this time. I thought he was done for."

"It seems that 'dogification' isn't as permanent as we thought…" Sango sighed.

"I reckon it was the girl…" Miroku narrowed his eyes. "There was a rumour going around that she had unusual power… he must have stuck around her, hoping that she would be able to change him back."

They watched the girl frantically continue her search for the dog. She seemed to think he may have run back up to the Shrine, as she turned and started up the steps. The post remained forgotten on top of the mailbox.

"And now he's got what he wanted and ran away." Sango said glumly. "Stupid Kouga…"

"Wham, bam, thank you ma'am." Miroku responded in a similarly bleak tone.

Kagome Higurashi was near tears. "Beau! Where _are _you?!"

………………………………………………………………….

As if his day could possibly get any worse…

First of all, he'd completely failed in his attempt to snatch the Shikon no Tama from the weedy little miko known as Kaede… _then _she'd shot him with a supposedly 'enchanted' arrow. If she hadn't been such a poor shot, she would have pegged him in the heart and suckered him to a tree for the rest of eternity. As it was, she'd only clipped his shoulder, but it had still hurt like hell and his pride had been far more seriously wounded.

Then to add insult to injury, some hairy mutt had jumped him and stolen his body. If that wasn't the perfect end to a perfect day, Inuyasha had no idea what was perfect anymore.

But there was still a major problem on his hands…

"I'm a dog!" Inuyasha howled into the forest, pattering in anxious circles while trying to sort out the chaos his mind was currently in. "I'm a freaking dog!"

Sounds, smells, textures and feelings he'd never even imagined were assaulting his senses. He may have been part dog demon, but his senses never even compared to _this. _He was almost distracted from his identity crisis when he caught the scent of a rabbit. Instantly he was tracking it, nose to the ground, snuffling loudly.

He caught himself doing it and snapped his jaws angrily. And then there was that annoying tail that kept distracting him! That big, bushy thing that was endlessly waving at him behind his back. He tried to turn to face it, but the tail kept dodging just out of reach. Irritably, Inuyasha attempted to catch it between his teeth… he missed the first few times as it wagged straight out of reach again. But he was clever… he timed it and-

"Ow!" he yelped and jumped at the pain that shot up his back. What kind of…?

Ooh! Another rabbit!

No, no, no… this was silly… he had to control himself. He was acting like a dog! His attention span was all over the place…

With a quiet whine, he flopped down into the mud and held his paws over his snout - more in an attempt to hold himself still than anything else. That dog… that dog had done something to him.

Well, _obviously_.

The point of the matter was that it needed to be undone. It must have been some kind of demon to have somehow stolen his form… some weird kind of underfed, stinky, insanely ugly demon dog…

Sitting up, Inuyasha assessed his options… and gave his neck a good scratch while he was at it. This dog's body that he was in was no way near the same league as his own heritage. Maybe the previous owner had been jealous of his blue blood?

With a snort, he quickly dismissed that idea. Who on earth would be jealous of a stupid little hanyou anyway?

The rain was falling unnecessarily hard. Even under the cover of the trees, Inuyasha was getting soaked to the bone. He was cold and tired and unbelievably hungry… anyone would think that he hadn't been fed for months. Not only that, but the rain had quite efficiently wiped out the scent trail of where his hanyou body had gone. He couldn't even smell the damn rabbits anymore.

His only chance would be to find someone who knew how to turn a dog back into a man. And how many people did he know that could do that? Inuyasha didn't really know many people, full stop…

For a moment he was up and heading in the direction of Kaede's village. It was his first instinct. Sure, the bitch had just shot him and everything, but surely she would take pity on a scrap of canine that scared humans beyond all reason… right?

Inuyasha sat down again and thought long and hard, staring off into space. It was difficult trying to concentrate when his brain wasn't really interested in thinking. Not that he'd been much of a thinker before, but now he was struggling to hold onto his train of thought…

Ohyes! He was going to Kaede's village.

He set off at a quick trot, quite sure of himself again. Surely Kaede would help him out, even though he was just a scrap of a canine that was scary beyond all… wait…

Inuyasha sat down again, utterly confused and very much lost. He'd just had his body snatched and was now trying to devise plans with a stupid dog brain…

Life was going to get harder from now on, he knew that much.

That's when the shiver ran through him, starting in his feet and rippling its way up his legs and down his spine to the tip of his tail. Inuyasha shuddered unconsciously as the tingling sensation spread in waves.

For some reason, he felt excited. He bounced back on his feet, not knowing where exactly he wanted to go, but he just couldn't keep still. He sat down, stood up, sat down and scratched himself repeatedly for good measure. He was anxious, worried, not just excited. Without a firm grasp of his abilities or senses, Inuyasha was having a hard time deciding just what exactly he was feeling.

_"__Oh, by the way, some time around midnight you may start feeling a little tingly. Don__'__t worry, that__'__s just the dead calling you.__"___

"Just brilliant…" Inuyasha huffed quietly to himself.

Then he saw them.

Little flickering lights like torches were diving between the trees below him. On the slope where Inuyasha sat, wagging his independently thinking tail anxiously, he could clearly see just how fast those lights were moving.

But oddly, he couldn't hear anything from below.

Inuyasha had no idea why he felt so compelled to run after those lights, but maybe part of it was curiosity to know what he was seeing… but some other part of him was despairing. All thoughts of ignoring the lights and going on a search for his body snatcher were abandoned as he flew down the slope, tearing across the damp earth and mud in pursuit of lights. He angled himself perfectly in order to cut across their path directly to catch them…

The bushes and trees ripped past him, and his breathing sounded harsh and fast in his lungs… he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the lights, but every now and then he lost sight of them.

Yet, despite all the confusion and the disconcerting experience of being removed from one's body, Inuyasha was having the thrill of his lifetime. He loved running… and doing so on all fours was a whole new experience.

He was fast. Faster than Kaede's stupid arrow and probably faster than his normal body… vegetation was nothing more than a blur of grey as he dashed over the terrain.

He wound up on a dirt track road with the earth beaten down so hard it remained firm despite the rain. Ears pricked, he looked around, but he saw no lights… even though he knew this was where he should have found them.

An antsy, restless feeling made him fidget and he turned this way and that, trying to catch any hint or sign of what he'd seen further up the slope.

They were upon him in seconds.

Inuyasha barely knew what had hit him. One moment he was on an empty lane, alone, and then the next he was caught in a storm of pounding hooves. Almost certain he was about to be trampled, Inuyasha hunched down, laying his ears flat against his skull in shock and only mild fear. But ever so quickly, he realised he wasn't being trampled at all… that in fact all those heavy horse feet were passing right through him…

They weren't normal horses either. Oversized and shaggy. Terrifying, in fact. But Inuyasha wasn't all that shocked by their appearance… or the appearance of their headless riders either who were larger than the average mortal anyway. However there was one complete rider - a female with her head still attached, riding at the centre of the group that was fast leaving Inuyasha behind.

Once more that urge to follow rose, and automatically, Inuyasha gave chase, tearing down the lane after the ghost riders. This was something out of the myths and tales the grandparents told their children. These stories never sounded all that scary when told from the mouth of a dying fool, but in reality, the atmosphere was incredible.

Only Inuyasha's feet were audible as he quickly caught up with the travelling group. They were completely silent, but the air around them was cold. Not that it bothered Inuyasha. He quickly weaved between their insubstantial legs to catch a better glimpse of the female rider. It was hard to tell if anyone noticed him. The horses certainly didn't, and when the riders didn't have heads, it was hard to tell where their eyes were.

But the woman saw him. She looked down at him, smiled a faint smile, then turned her eyes back on the road.

Inuyasha's feet took him to the head of the group, racing a few metres ahead of them. But more than that… it was almost as if he were leading them…

He took a right down a fork in the road… they followed… he took a left at the next crossing, and once more they carried on charging after him. He knew he probably should have stopped this crazy nonsense and let them go… but he couldn't seem to stop running. Nor could he control where his paws took him.

A castle loomed up ahead… he smelt it before he saw it. The musty stench of rotting wooden beams and stone. Of death and decay. The gates were open… or more like they were smashed to pieces enough to let anyone who wanted to pass through them.

Just before Inuyasha could take one step through those gates, he split off to the side and immediately collapsed on the grassy turf beside the watch tower. The riders passed on, without even a glance in his direction, through the gates, and then they were gone…

But whatever had just taken place… it wasn't over yet…

Almost against his will, Inuyasha got to his feet and lowered his head to hastily pluck a single, fairly long blade of grass from the turf he was lying on. But that was it.

His paws were tired and sore, but he still ran. Old wounds beneath his toes were reopening and bleeding afresh… but he kept running.

He ran all the way back along the path he had taken and then some. He passed by the road outlet of Kaede's village and charged on, half terrified of his inability to stop. Time seemed to stretch and lengthen before him, and it was almost as if he was chasing the sun down… or trying to outrun it.

Hours passed but Inuyasha never once slowed down or dropped the blade of grass from his mouth. Only until he smelt the fresh tang of spring water did he unconsciously rejoice. All that running was finally over…

The river was wide, but fast and clear. Inuyasha trudged to a halt on its bank and listlessly opened his mouth to let the weed fall into the water.

The sun rose, but Inuyasha was in no mood to start a new day. He was exhausted… starved… battered and bleeding and confused… so confused…

"This is insane…" he panted as he lay on his side in the soft grass. There was no way he could keep up that kind of activity _every _night. Was this why the dog had escaped with his hanyou body? Was this what he did every night? Guide the dead and run some pointless errand involving grass?

_Why?!_

It was a pity he couldn't just curl up and die, because there was nothing Inuyasha wanted to do more than just fall into a never ending sleep.

"Should have let that damn bitch shoot me…" he groaned to himself.

But as tempting as it was to curl up and die, or maybe just sleep on the river bank all day, he had a mission to complete.

Someone had stolen his body.

Inuyasha wanted it back as soon as possible, thank you very much. Today was as good a day to start his search… and hopefully he wouldn't be plucking grass by tomorrow night.

So with a weary grumble, Inuyasha got to his feet and started padding back towards the last place he'd seen his body. That had been somewhere around Kaede's village, but whether or not the dog-boy _thing _would be there now was over Inuyasha's head.

It took the best part of the morning before he eventually meandered his way back down the dirt track leading to the village. Of course, his morning hadn't been uneventful. Three times he'd been passed by a group of humans, and three times they'd run away from him screaming. But rather helpfully, they'd usually dropped whatever it was they were carrying (mainly food) and left Inuyasha to pick over what was edible and what was not.

By the time Inuyasha reached Kaede's village, his stomach was a little fuller than it had ever been before, and despite his rather obvious limping, he felt a world stronger.

It didn't take much to please a dog.

The only problem was… his body had long gone. It didn't matter how many people he asked, none of them seemed to know where his body was… well, perhaps they did know, but they were usually too busy stammering and running away to give him answers.

"Has anyone seen an incredibly good-looking hanyou around here?" Inuyasha called as he trotted through the village. "White hair, red clothes - may be acting like a total asshole right now…"

Within a few minutes, he found himself wandering through a deserted village. All the occupants had hastily locked themselves away in their homes and only the old miko - Kaede herself - had come out to face him.

But even she trembled. "Begone, demon hound!"

Déjà vu…

Inuyasha didn't want another arrow in his shoulder and so discreetly snorted a curse at her before shuffling on his way.

Perhaps his best bet was to simply follow his nose and find his body on his own?

Wait… was that a rabbit he could smell?

All thoughts of recovering his body were forgotten as he momentarily lost himself in the scent of the small creature. Nose to the ground, he began obliviously snuffling his way across the earth, recklessly shoving his way through bushes and thick grass.

It was white, male, anxious, and fairly old… and he could tell all that simply from the scent.

This was nothing like his other nose. This nose was superior in every way…

Inuyasha came out into a small clearing and began following the scent trail around in circles. It was only when he finally looked up absently that he found the rabbit crouching beside an old wooden well. It looked terrified, but he could see it's thinking…

_Maybe if I don__'__t move, he won__'__t see me…_

Inuyasha blinked at it slowly. "I can see you, you know." he commented.

The rabbit shuffled slightly. "Don't eat me…" it piped quietly.

Great. Even the rabbits could talk. Inuyasha stared at it for a moment, wondering if he was going insane. "What did you say?"

"I'm poisonous."

"No, you said 'Don't eat me'."

"Don't eat me…" The rabbit was either too petrified to sound intelligent… or it was just as thick as the mud coating his paws.

"I don't like scraps of bones like you, anyway." Inuyasha sneered at it. "I was just experimenting."

"Don't eat me… I have a doe and seven kits in my burrow."

A low growl started in Inuyasha's throat. "Want me to eat them instead?! Beat it!"

The rabbit didn't need to be told twice. It shot away, darting this way and that with it's little white rump flashing temptingly, as if to say 'Come follow me and eat me, why don't you?'

Inuyasha shook his thin, shaggy head and decided to flop down beside the well for a short rest. What was the world coming to when rabbits could talk back to you?

That was when he heard a grumble in the well behind him. For a moment, he was about to dismiss it as the wind, but then his keen ears picked up the distinctive sound of a body shifting down in the pit. Jumping to his feet, Inuyasha pushed his chin over the lip of the well and tried to look down.

Very uncomfortable… and he still couldn't see a damn thing.

Rising up onto his hind legs with his forepaws on the rim, Inuyasha peered down into the well properly. These eyes appeared to see better in dim light, but even the bottom of the well was too dark for them. The sound had stopped, but he could smell the lingering stench of demon and decay.

Wasn't this the bone gobbler's well? Perhaps Kaede had stopped by earlier to dispose of some leftover demons…? Someone had once mentioned to him the use of this particular well.

But had they mentioned that this well was also unstable and particularly rickety?

No.

Inuyasha's weight on the well's rim seemed to be too much for the structure, and his ears perked as the wood gave a sound crunch.

Inuyasha pitched forward, stranded on his chest with his front paws dangling into a black abyss.

"Oh no…" he complained with a disparaged sigh. "_Wonderful!_"

He wiggled around for a few minutes, but his efforts only seemed to increase his dilemma as his body slipped further forward. Inuyasha couldn't imagine a more unceremonious and undignified moment in his life… and to make matters worse, his rebellious tail was still wagging happily behind him. It really did have a mind of its own.

Well, he could hang here all day and wait for a villager to come along and find him…

Then when they had a heart attack at the mere sight of him, he could wait for the next moron.

To be honest, no one was going to help a dog from hell out of a well…

His tail gave an extra little wag as he realised he'd made a rhyme.

Inuyasha had to forcibly set his mind back on the matter.

Yep. He could wait till the next moron came along to scream and run away, or he could cut his losses and simply plunge to his death. It would be quick. He'd break his neck and decay with all the other demons that got sent to wherever it was they got sent to.

Not exactly the way he'd planned to go, but you had to make the most of what you had.

…Best get on with it before that rabbit came back and laughed at his ass…

Without further ado, Inuyasha stopped bracing his hind legs against the outside of the well and let himself slither forward.

If walking around as a dog was awkward, _falling _as a dog was even more so. He wanted to twist and see where he was going to land, but his body was built the wrong way and wouldn't bend for him.

But at least there was one lovely moment of weightlessness before he hit the ground with a thud. It knocked the wind out of him, but he was surprised to find that he was in one piece… more or less…

Whatever had been down the well earlier was now gone. In which case - where was it?

"Oh, look…" a voice purred from above him. "A dog down a well. How amusing."

Inuyasha tilted his head towards the square of light above. A small, podgy white face was peering down at him. "Are you that rabbit…?" he wondered aloud.

A long, sleek tail flicked over the rim of the well, falling into his vision. "Charming. I eat rabbit for breakfast… bear in mind that it comes from a tin, but nevertheless…"

A strong, rather starchy smell permeated the air around him.

That was no rabbit.

That was a cat. A rather obese cat, in fact.

"My word… you're a very smelly fellow, aren't you." The cat's tail flicked again. "You could do with a bath. All dogs could do with a bath. Actually, all dogs could do with being chopped up and fed to horses." It chuckled as if it had said something very funny.

Inuyasha blinked up at it, nonplussed.

"Alas… dogs are always a little on the slow side." The cat sighed.

Inuyasha bristled testily. "I'm not a dog."

"Oh, it is nice to see one with ambition. What are you then? A human perhaps? Your type sucks up to those apes so well that anyone would think you wanted to _be _one."

Inuyasha picked himself up off the ground and planted his front paws against the side of his prison, all the better to see the cat with. "I _am _a human… sort of… I mean, I used to be." Inuyasha growled at himself. "I need to get out of here!"

"Temper, temper." The cat yawned in a patronising way. "If you truly were a human, wouldn't you have climbed your way out by now?"

"I only _used _to be a human… sort of."

"Either way, I suppose I should get you some help." The cat said, as if being incredibly thoughtful about his decision. "I could always get Kagome to come and help you out – she likes animals. Although she's been a bit adverse to dogs ever since the last one ran away-"

The cat suddenly broke off as a distant call cut off the conversation.

"_Buyoooo_?! Dinner!" a lilting female voice was calling. Decidedly human.

"Ooh… perhaps later then." The cat named Buyo suddenly rolled out of view. Inuyasha heard his fat little body hit the wooden boards before the cat began tottering away. "I'll send someone your way… sometime… maybe… after dinner."

"Wait! Come back here!" Inuyasha snarled and barked. "I want out _now_!"

"Patience is a virtue!" the cat called back. The little bell on his collar tinkled away into the distance until it had faded completely.

Inuyasha blew out a short, sharp sigh and let his forepaws fall back onto the earth.

There was something odd about the well… he could have sworn that a minute ago there had been a sky where that wooden roof was now. And that cat? What on _earth _had it been wearing around it's neck?

And rabbit from tins? What a strange way to serve food…

And what was that distant humming sound in the distance. It was continuous, and incessant, like a thousand bees all humming at once. It replaced the normally quiet countryside noises that he was used to.

Was this where all the demon remains ended up?

Lying down and resting his muzzle on his paws, Inuyasha realised he could do little more than sit and wait till the cat came back with help. The idea of having to find help from a _cat _was insane and very demeaning… but he had to accept that now he was a true dog - sort of – and he wasn't as far up the food chain as he'd used to be.

Inuyasha gave another exhausted sigh and let sleep finally claim him. He was simply too tired to do anything else.

_Once I__'__m out of this stupid well – _Inuyasha thought sleepily as he drifted off – _I__'__ll begin searching for my body again… I can__'__t stay like this…_

His dreams were filled with lots of rabbits with bobbing white tails and cats with bells around their necks - all begging to be chased.

So Inuyasha spent the best part of dinner time twitching and grunting down the Bone Eater's well, and failing to catch every damn one of those cats and rabbits.


	2. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Author****'****s Notes: **I know the first chapter was a little confusing, but I can assure you that this chapter clears up a lot of that. Especially regarding Miroku and Sango…

* * *

**Creature Comforts**

**Chapter Two**

**Down the Rabbit Hole**

Kagome absently patted Buyo's head as the cat came waddling forward to greet the bowl of food she'd just set down on the kitchen floor. With a soft sigh, she straightened and moved to pick up the school bag that she'd dumped on the table. "Has anyone called about Beau?" she asked her mother who had been sat beside said bag, reading a newspaper.

"Not yet, Honey."

Kagome wondered if her mother would even bother telling her if someone found Beau. Her mother was not exactly a dog person and she and Beau hadn't gotten along very well. How a woman could pick a fight with a dog was incredible, but it had happened. Beau and Kagome's mother weren't on speaking terms, despite Mrs Higurashi having the mildest, most tolerable nature in the world.

Mrs Higurashi was probably happy that the dog was gone.

Although… Kagome couldn't help but worry if her poor little puppy was lying in a ditch somewhere, having been hit by a car.

Beau had simply followed her home one day after school, and after that, they had been inseparable. Kagome considered herself very much a dog person, even though she loved Buyo very much. A dog was just much more interactive and fun, and Beau had been no exception…

But for some reason, he'd just vanished off the face of the earth. Kagome had only turned away for a moment. When she'd turned around again, her dog was gone, and the only thing being presented to her was some streaker's backside.

"I wonder if someone's picked him off the street and stolen him…?" Kagome wondered as she sat down beside her mother. "Because he _was _a pedigree… and he was quite lovely…"

"I'm sure he will turn up." Mrs Higurashi looked up from her newspaper and soothed her hand over Kagome's hair. "With all the posters that Souta has tacked up around the district, I'd be surprised if no one called. Beau was a very distinctive little dog. Someone is bound to recognise him."

"I guess…" Kagome watched as Buyo finished his food and began sniffing around for any extra titbit that he'd missed. Satisfied that he'd eaten everything available, the fat cat began to slink away. "And where are you going, mister?" Kagome scooped up the cat into her arms.

"Going? I'm going to go laugh at a stupid mutt trapped down a well. Unhand me, woman."

But the cat's comments fell on deaf ears.

"Ooh…" Kagome frowned as she bounced Buyo in her arms. "Do you think he's gained weight again?"

"It's glandular!"

"I don't know…" Mrs Higurashi eyed the cat. "We could probably do with putting him on a diet again…"

"What was that about a diet?!"

"Perhaps." Kagome nodded before she noticed that Buyo was struggling rather intensely to be put down. She released him quickly and watched him slide off her lap and onto the floor in a heap. "Oh, Buyo… when will you learn that cats are supposed to land on all fours?"

"Weak ankles…" the cat responded, and began toddling toward the door. He looked back over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way, there's a dog trapped down the old well."

But Kagome wasn't listening at all. She'd gone back to talk to her mother about some kind of assignment she'd been set by her Geography teacher. Buyo discreetly rolled his eyes and sauntered out again, making his lazy way back to the well house.

He slipped through the open door into the dank interior and falolloped down the steps like a furry water balloon. He then managed to haul himself, with some difficulty, onto the well's lip and peer down into it's depth with sharp, yellow eyes. He sniffed in contempt at the dog twitching and snuffling below him.

"Excuse me," He cleared his throat – a sound not dissimilar to a fit of hairballs.

The grimy dog went on sleeping.

Buyo sucked in a sharp breath of air… and let it out in one mighty yowl – the "Dear god, stop swinging me around by my tail" yowl. It was ear-splitting, and undoubtedly the two women in the house would have heard. But it had been aimed at the dog, and Buyo watched with a small tail-flick of triumph as it jerked awake with a startled 'woof'.

"Pleasant dreams?" he purred down.

The dog struggled to sit up. It was a bit too large for the well it was stuck down. "Where's my help?!" it demanded.

Very aggressive… there must have been some Rottweiler in the mix somewhere. Maybe even some Bull Mastiff…

"Patience, my friend." Buyo rolled his tail lazily from side to side. "They'll be here any minute after that racket I just made."

True to his word, the front door of the house crashed open. "Buyo!" It was Kagome, anxious to know what had caused her pet to give such a pained scream. "Buyo – where are you?!"

Buyo yowled a little more gently this time, but no less urgently. "Quick! Timmy's trapped down the well!" He chortled at his own joke – but when the dog growled, he looked down disdainfully. "What? You never watched 'Skippy'?"

Before the dog could form an intelligent reply (which evidently took a lot of time, judging from Buyo's experience with dogs), Kagome the wonder girl had arrived. "What's the matter?" she panted, placing a hand on the unruffled cat. "I thought you were in a fight or something… what on earth is the matter with-"

"**_Woof!!_**"

The girl toppled back with a short scream, throwing her hands up as if expecting some monstrous animal to leap out of the well in one bound and fasten hideous fangs around her throat. When nothing happened, she lifted her head, darted a look at the deadpanning cat, and started to stand shakily on her own two feet again. Hesitantly, she crept over to the edge of the well and slowly peered down into it's murky depths.

Two disks of pale gold shone up at her out of the pitch darkness.

"Well… that's not creepy at all." she whispered to herself as the little specks of light blinked at her. Then whatever monster was down there shifted, and the glowing disks were gone. Only an animal had eyes that reflected light that strongly…

"**_Woof!_**"

Kagome skittered away again. "Stop doing that!" she cried. She wasn't normally scared of dogs – not even the large variety – but she knew that whatever was down there, it couldn't have been an ordinary canine.

Then she heard it's soft, pitiful whine, and the scrabble of its claws against the rocky innards of the well… and she realised what had happened. Stepping forward, she gazed down at the glowing eyes. "How on earth did you get down there…?" she asked gently, as if there was a chance it could talk back. But the dog only whined. "I hope you haven't broken anything…" Injured dogs always tended to be aggressive towards their rescuers; they just didn't know any better.

"And…how do I get you out of there?" She started looking around her. Perhaps it would be wise to call the fire brigade… they were getting cats out of trees all the time – getting a dog out of the ground would be no different. And Kagome would rather that the dog bite well prepared firemen than her.

_But there__'__s a ladder __–_Kagome narrowed her eyes as her gaze fell on the long wooden structure, pinned to the wall with a couple of pegs – _If I could just tempt him up the ladder with a bit of food or something… I__'__m sure he__'__s big enough to climb…_

"If this doesn't work…" Kagome said aloud as she hauled the ladder off the wall, "then I guess it's your own fault for falling down the stupid well."

It took a little effort – but in no time at all, Kagome was carefully lowering the ladder down the well shaft, mindful not to prod the monster dog and get him mad at her. Judging by the odd growl, she wasn't always successful.

Finally, the end of the ladder hit the bottom and stuck. Kagome stepped back and dusted off her hands. "Right, now I'll just go and get some bait to tempt you-"

She stopped herself short as the ladder gave a hefty shudder. Buyo watched in a lazily amused sort of way, but Kagome could only look on in horror.

That _thing _was climbing up already!

"Wait – I'm not ready yet!" Kagome cried. Couldn't she at least have the chance to find her full-body suit of armour?!

The dog wasn't going to wait around for anyone, so Kagome could only back away carefully as the ladder bumped and jumped this way and that while the beast climbed one step at a time, rather unsteadily.

At one point there was a crunch of wood, and for a brief moment, Kagome was worried that the dog would simply fall back into the well. But that didn't even seem to slow it down. In the next second, an enormous shaggy bear of an animal surged out of the well and landed jerkily on the dusty foor. It was only two steps in front of her…

That dog _was _a monster…

It was lanky… too thin and too long, with the face of a wolf and a narrow nose. Masses of matted black hair covered it's body, so dark that it seemed to absorb all light that touched it – there wasn't even the slightest shine to its coat. It stood like an aged animal, old and battered… but when it took the smallest step towards her, she could instantly detect the presence of a limp.

And the eyes were odd… they broke up the cold, terrifying image that stood before her. They were warm, like small molten puddles of amber flecked with gold. However, they were also sharp and cold, but in a tangible human way that belied the almost supernatural feel to the creature…

It didn't seem to like the way she was staring at it. Pearly fangs were beginning to bare, all the way to the dark gums – a stark contrast of white tooth against black fur.

But Kagome was saved by a loud, irritable hiss from her cat. Buyo was now balanced precariously along the edge of the well, back arched with his ears plastered back against his head. The monster dog turned to look at him with a hint of a growl rumbling in the back of its throat.

Kagome didn't want them to start fighting on her account… she didn't fancy Buyo's chances one bit. He _was _obese, after all.

It was to her intense relief that the dog decided enough was enough. It suddenly dashed away up the steps and out of the open door, limping heavily with every bound. Kagome quickly ran after it – scared for a moment that her mother would be outside and in the dog's way – but her fears were for nothing. The dog steered towards the Shrine steps and in an instant was gone from sight.

It was only then that Kagome realised how hard her heart was pounding.

What a terrifying creature…

Buyo appeared at her ankles, rubbing his plump little body against her socks in earnest. Bending down, she lifted him into her arms and cuddled him protectively while he purred happily. "Don't start picking fights with dogs on steroids, Buyo. It's not healthy."

Neither was five tins of "Whiskers" a day, but no one heard Buyo complaining…

…………………………………………………

At least he'd made it out of the well alive. But, as usual, any situation involving Inuyasha was destined to turn nasty. Strange how that cat had changed its tune the moment he'd popped out of the well.

"And what kind of dog are _you _supposed to be?" Buyo had demanded, hackles raised and tail poker stiff. "The Grim Reaper's _pet_?"

Inuyasha had turned away from the annoying, staring girl to glare at the cat. "And what are you – an incarnation of Buddha, you fat little furball!"

Buyo hadn't liked that.

Inuyasha hadn't cared. After gaining the last laugh, he dove out of the well house and made a run for it. It troubled him that the well he'd emerged from didn't seem to be the same well that he had entered…

Although… wasn't that the village Shrine he was dashing past?

Perhaps he'd been knocked unconscious for longer than he'd thought…?

After loping his way down the steps, Inuyasha tried to frown as he came out onto the road – problem was, dogs didn't actually have many muscles in the face to express themselves with – so he ended up just squinting slightly. His more pressing concern was that there was now a grey rock road where there had once been dirt, trees and little huts.

A metal carriage went roaring past him, showering him with noxious gas and a suffocating stench. He sneezed twice and retreated to sit close to the mailbox at the foot of the steps. He watched the traffic in wonder for a moment, listening to the details that his nose told him.

There were many scents around this strange place, the most predominate one being poison, or some other chemical smell. Beneath that he could smell all kinds of other things – urine, sweat, dust and many more different poisons. There weren't any rabbits or birds to be scented… but he definitely caught the whiff of other dogs, and maybe even a few cats.

It was a very foreign place… like he'd emerged into a totally different world.

But in the same way, it wasn't all that strange.

The carriages that roared past every now and then were obviously some kind of transport… he could see the humans inside every time they passed by. The smooth, grey stone that these carriages moved along were obviously roads. He'd seen the occasional gravelled road back home, although there was nothing as advanced as this.

The clothing was what baffled him. A mother and her two children on the other side of the road weren't even wearing the customary style of clothes. _Their _clothes fit and fastened together in all kinds of weird and wonderful way, in all kinds of strange and stylish patterns and textures. But the moment they saw him, the mother seemed very anxious to hurry her children along.

The only other life on the road was the two identical black cats sitting on a wall opposite. They were both staring at him rather openly.

Inuyasha ignored them and looked around some more. This time he noticed the colours – or rather – the lack of them. The world seemed muted, like someone had taken a painting and watered it down till it was a murky grey.

Oh, he could still see _some _colours. When he looked up, the sky was still blue, and when he looked at the yellow fire hydrant, it was still yellow. But the trees – while their trunks were a vague, greyish tan – their leaves ranged from grey to pale grey, and even to white

It was an odd, bleached world that he was looking at, but he suspected that this was more to do with his new eyes than anything else.

These new eyes turned back to the pair of cats on the wall.

They were still staring.

"What?!" he barked at them, literally.

"Nothing at all!" one of them, a male by the sound of it, crowed back. "We were just admiring your lovely coat!"

"My ass!" Inuyasha snarled back, feeling particularly irritable.

"That too!" the other cat, a female, called over with a dry humour.

Were all cats this smarmy and sarcastic? Perhaps that was a given…

"Forgive me, friend," The male tipped his elegant head. "But you seem a little lost."

That was one way of putting it. "I don't need directions from a bunch of stinking cats!" Inuyasha snapped angrily.

"Oh, _we__'__re _the smelly ones?" The female was covering her nose with a delicate paw, in a not-so-discreet way. That wasn't a very catty gesture… that was more of a human thing to do. "I can smell you from all the way over here, dog." she called again.

Inuyasha pulled his lips back, baring his teeth in warning before starting to limp away down the road.

"If you ever change your mind – me and Sango are here all day, aren't we, Sango?"

"Unfortunately, yes we are, Miroku."

Bah… crazy cats. Who needed them? Inuyasha was on a mission – to find his body and reverse whatever spell he was under…

But why was instinct telling him that there was little chance of finding his body snatcher around _this _place… wherever _this _was.

With no where else to go, Inuyasha tottered through the streets aimlessly, sniffing at the occasionally interesting scents he found along the way. His exploring didn't turn up much, other than prove to him that this place was practically the same all over.

He passed by an alley once – an alley where a scraggy little stray mongrel was rooting around for it's dinner. The moment it saw Inuyasha, it whimpered and ran away with it's tail between it's legs. It hadn't said a word to him…

So just when Inuyasha was beginning to wonder if dogs really were as stupid as the fat cat had suggested, he wandered past a chain link fence, penned around the garden of one of the 'houses'. A bitch was playing in the yard, but the moment she spotted him, she was up and galloping over to greet him.

"Hello! How are you?! Do you want to play with my ball – my human got it for me today! Wow, you're big aren't you?! Come play with me!"

Inuyasha blinked slowly at her, not at all impressed. She was way too bouncy for his dour mood. Her tail wagged too enthusiastically and she was laughing in that hushed, unobtrusively doggish way.

Well, at least she could talk. But Inuyasha was in no temper to play with that purple ball, and so passed on without a word, determined to get more results on his search for the body snatcher… if only he could stop getting so distracted!

He even spent a good five minutes sniffing an unidentifiable brown liquid that was leaking from a bottle into a gutter before he realised that he wasn't being very productive at all.

He was going no where… other than a rather busy part of the 'town'.

More people were mooching along the roadside here, but all were eager to give him a wide berth. Inuyasha ignored them and they, as shakily as they could, ignored him in return. Before long, Inuyasha planted his furry rear down on the ground outside one of the buildings – but this building was different. Its whole front was made of glass, and on the other side of this window pane were little boxes with flashing images. His eyes were quick enough to catch the flickering frames.

Most of the boxes were showing off some kind of moving artwork, but the others featured real people. Inuyasha honed in on one in particular that had words running across the bottom of the screen.

_"…missing newspaper boy turns up after disappearing for three months. Boy is said to be suffering severe trauma, but is otherwise unharmed. Police have yet to uncover the reason for his disappearance…"___

"Hey!" A man appeared in the doorway beside the big window. "Go away, you big brute."

Out of sheer contempt, Inuyasha kept his posterior firmly fixed in place. "Make me." he challenged.

The man didn't seem to hear him. "Beat it, mutt! Go sit by Suzuki's shop – he deserves to have a big brute like you sit under his window and scare off his customers!"

Inuyasha's response was to simply ignore him and lie down, curled up, with his head on his paws. He was far too big for that one man to move – and if he so much as tried to shift Inuyasha, he would only get a bite for his trouble.

Rather unwisely, Inuyasha drifted off into a nap…

A mistake.

When he woke up, he was being advanced upon by six men in matching uniforms. Each of them carried a long pole with a wire-like noose protruding from the end.

"'Ey! He's awake!" one of them said.

"Don't let him get away – we need to get this brute off the streets!"

"What kind of moron let an animal like him out? He's a monster!"

"Just take him back to the pound and put him to sleep. That's best."

This didn't look good. Inuyasha couldn't quell the panicking dog instincts that welled up within him. He wanted to blunder up and break into a run, but his hanyou nature knew that this instinct would probably get him into trouble. They were expecting him to jump up and run, weren't they? Well… Inuyasha would have to do the opposite.

As naturally as he could, Inuyasha let out a soft groan and sank back down to the ground like a lifeless rug.

Let them think he was as weak and ill as he looked.

"I don't think he's feeling up to the fight…" one of the men said.

"He looks pretty old to me."

Inuyasha felt their tense auras begin to relax as they stepped closer with a little more confidence. He continued to loll on the ground like a witless fool as they approached. Soon they were all gathered around him, close enough for him to bite if he wished to do so. But he didn't react to their presence.

He had to get them to let their guard down completely…

"Poor thing, I think he's already been done in." another said somewhere above him.

One of them was leaning down to take a closer look at him.

That was when Inuyasha finally made his move.

In a flash, Inuyasha lurched up and snapped his jaws shut inches in front of the crouching man's nose. The poor man let loose a high-pitched scream and fell backwards, opening up the perfect hole through which Inuyasha could escape.

The Grim leapt aptly over the fallen man and started to pelt his way down the pavement. He may have been 'done in', injured, and tired, but he could still move when he put his mind to it. People screamed as they hastily scrambled to get out of his way. Inuyasha paid them no mind as he dodged between the many bodies, letting the world flash by in a blur.

He dived down side roads, meandered down alleyways, and finally began slowing down when he realised that the men couldn't possibly have followed him…

And by then, he was back at the Shrine. Grumbling under his breath, Inuyasha sank to the ground, panting, and wished that his paws didn't hurt as much as they did.

"Ah, look who's come to join us again!"

Inuyasha cracked open an eye and peered up at the triangular, black face peeking down from the wall behind him. "Aw, shit…"

"You look like you've seen a ghost, my friend." The male cat nimbly dropped off the wall and came to sit beside Inuyasha's head.

"I am not your friend." he ground out at the cat. Right then, he could have reached out and bitten the sleek animal in half. Why wasn't it afraid of him?

"Well then, we had best get acquainted. My name is Miroku, and my friend here is the gorgeous Miss Sango."

The female cat was no where near bold enough to join her friend beside the dog's head. "Hey." she greeted simply from her safe position on the wall.

"I don't like cats. Leave me alone." Inuyasha grouched. He was too tired to get up and leave in order to end the conversation.

"That's nice. But we're not cats." Miroku's tail twitched against his foot.

"Could have fooled me." Inuyasha scowled.

"We're actually human. Or… we were." Miroku looked distant. "At least I think we were… I can't really remember…"

"Oh, we were." said Sango from above. "I can't remember how long ago it was, but I definitely remember having hands."

"Cats don't have very good memory." Miroku said, almost apologetically.

Inuyasha lifted his head and stared at the tom cat. "You used to be human?" he asked sharply.

"One hundred percent human." If cats could grin, Miroku did so.

"So…" Inuyasha tried to make sense of this development. "Did you have your bodies swapped with some kind of evil cat?"

Sango seemed to finally summon the courage to come down and join in the discussion. She sat close to Miroku's side as the tom looked at Inuyasha in bewilderment. "Heavens, no – at least… I hope not… I don't remember."

"I do." Sango glanced at her companion. "I remember that we were human – and then we were transformed into cats."

"Oh yes!" said Miroku, as if remembering a vague detail. "I don't think there was any body swapping involved."

"Oh…" Inuyasha was somewhat disappointed. This meant that they couldn't help him. They hadn't been caught in the same spell… and they were _cats _after all. Not even remotely similar to him.

"Why do you ask?" Miroku chirped, his tail now openly swinging behind him in a friendly mood.

Inuyasha grunted and let his eyes close. "Because I used to be a hanyou, but I was cornered by a mangy black Grim… the dog stole my body and is now walking around as _me_."

"Ah. I see." Miroku looked thoughtful.

"Oh – and now _you__'__re _walking around as the mangy black Grim instead." Sango concluded.

_Bingo!_ Inuyasha didn't have the energy to confirm her conclusion.

"That's not really the way it usually happens." Miroku said wisely. "All the ex-human dogs we know were all dogified by one particular tosspot. No swapping, just shrunk and given extra body hair."

"The same prick who turned us into cats." Sango added.

"Really, Sango?" Miroku blinked at her.

"Yes, Miroku."

"Oh… if you say so." Miroku turned back to Inuyasha. "But since you were tricked by an actual _dog…_ I'm not sure we can help you."

"Yeah, we would have suggested you go spend some time with the Shrine maiden." Sango pointed her nose towards the shrine steps behind her. "It's rumoured that her presence alone has already cured dogification. We saw it ourselves when that mutt Kouga transformed back into his normal self."

"Really…?" Interesting… but this cure seemed to be for a different kind of problem…

"But you might want to try her out anyway." Miroku urged. "It can't hurt, can it?"

But did Inuyasha really want to traipse around after that annoying, rubbernecked girl? He was reluctant to do so, because it meant he would be expected to act like a dog. Inuyasha wasn't sure he could sink that low. Yet. So he said, "Does she cure catification, too?"

"No idea." Miroku rolled his head carelessly. "We're trying to find out, but that Buyo fellow is awfully territorial and very possessive of the girl."

"Won't even give us a look in…" Sango sighed. "Unless I go alone when I'm in heat."

The tom cat looked at her sharply. "Which you will not be doing."

"Never said I would."

"But you've thought about it."

"So have you."

"When?"

"We talked about it the other day!"

"I don't remember any such conversation, Sango dear."

"Well, you don't remember much of anything these days, Miroku."

Inuyasha clamped a paw over an ear. _A cat fight_ of all things. They were beginning to hiss and spit at each other, fur standing on end as if about to come to blows. Couldn't they just leave him to sleep in peace?! One doggish instinct was telling Inuyasha to give up and take another nap after his hard run, but another was skittishly reminding him that now might not be a safe time. It was hard figuring out which instinct to listen to… so he went with the latter.

All of a sudden, the cat fight was over, and the pair of felines were rubbing heads apologetically. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you." Sango was purring.

"I don't even remember what we were arguing about." Miroku responded, equally content in his purring.

What a sickening display of affection. Inuyasha sat up on his elbows. "So if I go and spend some time with the girl, I might change back into my old self?"

"What –oh! Possibly." Miroku broke away from Sango. "No guarantees… and no money back if you're not satisfied within three months."

"Hmm." Inuyasha wasn't convinced. He was leaning more towards the option of jumping back in the well to see where that took him – hopefully back to where he'd started. But the whole trouble it took to climb out of the well was deterring him. There was no sure bet that there would be any smarmy cats and gullible human girls on the other side to help him out again.

Almost to stall for time to think, he pursued the cats for information. "So who was the tosser who turned you both into cats?"

"Oh god… don't remind me." Miroku gave an irritated flick of the tail.

"_Nothing _can remind you, Miroku." Sango told him dryly. "Even I barely remember… all I know was that he hit on me, you simply _hit _him, then the next thing we knew we were being accused of being very catty and then we were strolling around on all fours with whiskers, talking to the birds and the bees."

"Yes, but do we remember who it was?" Miroku pointed out.

"Um…" said Sango.

"Um…" said Miroku. "White haired man… young, though. Really unnerving pale eyes and his nails could have done with a manicure. See this scar?" He presented a furry shoulder (one with no hint of a scar). "He did that with his nails – claws they were!"

"He gave his name, didn't he?" Sango reminisced.

"Ah yes… what was it again?"

"Oh… Inuyatta… Kinuyara… something like that."

Inuyasha's blood ran cold. "You mean, Inuyasha?"

"Probably." Miroku swayed loftily, a bit like a cat version of a shrug. "Something odd like that, anyway."

A hard, bitter tasting lump had settled in his doggish stomach.

He was _here…_!

And not only had the bastard stolen his body, but he'd stolen his _name _and _identity _as well!

There was only so much humiliation one man… or one dog could take.

To make matters worse, Inuyasha heard himself start to whine.

"What's the matter?" Miroku demanded. "What are you crying for?"

"I'm not crying!" Inuyasha huffed angrily – he was _not _crying! Except… whining was basically the canine equivalent. "I'm just depressed!"

"Why?" Sango wondered.

Miroku flicked an ear. "Well, it completes that grunge look that he's got going there..."

"That bastard – that _Inuyasha _– he's the one who stole my body! That is _my _body he's using – and my name! My name is Inuyasha and that is my body – he stole it!"

Both cats were inching away.

"He's the one who used to be the Grim – he swapped with me!" But something didn't seem to add up. The swap had only taken place yesterday, right? So why were there cats and dogs walking around who seemed to have been transformed for a while now…?

Inuyasha's brain simply wasn't up to the challenge of figuring it out.

"Well, then…" Miroku was saying. "I guess you want your body back in that case?"

"Well, _obviously_."

"No need to be rude." Sango told him curtly. "But before you can even think of going after him, you had better take a good look in the mirror-"

"-because the dog looking back at you _will _be you – I don't care what you will think – and he's not looking in the best of shape right now." Miroku finished.

Even Inuyasha was aware that he wasn't the fittest of dogs. He was always hungry, his ribs were prominent under the masses of tangled fur, and his limping was more due to stiffness than his bleeding paws. It was a wonder how the Grim had managed to capture him in such a state (to add insult to injury). The only thing this body was good for was running… and that was only because there was not an ounce of fat on his body to weigh him down… but not much muscle either.

The body had been starved and mistreated for years, hadn't it? But as the Grim had said, this body couldn't die… so what was the point in taking care of it?

"You may want to improve your chances and get a little meat on your bones." Sango cautioned.

"How?" Inuyasha asked.

Both cats blinked at him, and then in unison looked up at the Shrine. Inuyasha followed their gaze. "You mean… _her_?"

"Yep." Miroku smirked. "She has a thing for animals – she takes in strays without too much trouble. Kouga went to her and was treated like a little prince the entire time. Of course… you being as big as you are… and as ugly as you are… you may need to work a little harder at getting into her heart than Kouga did."

"Oh, joy…"

"Think of it as a challenge!" Sango encouraged him. "And your reward is a few good square meals a day and a relaxed life without worrying about the pound people."

So that's what those men had been…

"I'm not so sure…" Inuyasha stalled again. His mind wasn't able to keep up with the options being presented to him.

Cats, on the other hand, were much faster, even if it did cost them a lot of their memory. "Or you could simply go face him as you are and end up being slaughtered." Miroku told him coolly. "I doubt he'll be open to negotiations with his former body. You aren't in any shape to fight him – and he's a strong magic user by the looks of things."

True… all true… but Inuyasha didn't want to be someone's _pet_.

But did he even have a choice?

It was obvious what he had to do…


	3. Burgers and Fries

**Author's Notes: **Just in case any of you were wondering where a certain four fics of mine went, yes, they got deleted. They were reported for bogus reasons, but the situation has now been sorted out and the fics will be re-uploaded as soon as possible. It's as simple as that.

Anyway, getting back on with Creature Comforts after a little nagging from Ithilwen. (Nagging pays off, apparently.)

* * *

**Creature Comforts**

**Chapter Three**

**Burger and Fries…**

* * *

_So… how exactly am I supposed to __win over__ this girl?___

_How else? You stalk her!___

_

* * *

_

Inuyasha wasn't exactly sure how much a scatty cat's advice was worth, but apart from taking another suicidal leap into the well, there wasn't much else he could do around this strange new world other than suck it up to some human teenager. By now he was already scraping by as the lowest of the low… one more humiliation didn't really matter, did it?

Too exhausted to even pretend to act wary and cautious, Inuyasha sloped up the steps to the "Sunset" shrine like the tramp he resembled. He didn't particularly want to butter up some stranger – a human female, no less – but the cats insisted that this girl was the only person likely to take him in.

His lanky form trickled between shadows like an extension of their darkness. He kept up this pattern of movement, not really wanting to wander into the moonlight for that was when he felt most exposed. It was almost as if he didn't fancy anyone looking at him while he was in _this _state.

He gave a doggish snort. "And what have I got to be vain about?" he said aloud. The only response he got was a sharp rustle in the plants beside him as something small and furry ran away in fright.

Inuyasha wasn't a naturally vain person. However, after seeing his reflection in a few shop windows, he couldn't help but feel slightly bitter. His familiar (and fairly handsome) face was gone, replaced by this alien looking muzzle with excessive facial hair. More disturbingly though, Inuyasha was actually beginning to forget what he had looked like before…

He'd had white hair and golden eyes… but… _what had he looked like?_

Had he even been _that _good looking…?

One thing had to be said though: this new nose wasn't something to be sniffed at. His eyesight may have been a little poorer, his sense of taste seemed almost non-existent, but who needed sight and taste when you could follow the exact path of a scent to its source? Inuyasha put this to work as he tracked his way across the shrine grounds to the Higurashi household. He knew this was where the girl lived and slept since all human scents in the vicinity seemed to lead to and linger in this very place.

The lights were out… no one seemed to be home.

_Probably sleeping… _Inuyasha reckoned as he parked his furry rear on the front porch of the house and gave his neck a hearty scratch.

Scratching was wonderfully relaxing… but while he scratched, the synapses in his simple brain seemed to forget to keep up his train of thought, as if it took every bit of his concentration to scratch that itch. After he'd lowered his foot to the ground, he struggled to remember what he'd just been thinking about.

Inuyasha deadpanned, staring into the distance while he tried to remember.

Ah yes! He was waiting to meet the girl so he could worm his way into her oversized heart and get a few square meals in the process. The mere thought of food was enough to have his stomach howling again, and Inuyasha whined pitifully as he finally lay down with his chin resting on his paw.

What time was it? Midnight? Early morning?

A small, peculiar shiver ran down Inuyasha's spine, and his jaws clamped together in an irritated response. He lifted his head to peer around the moonlit shrine grounds. This was the same feeling that he'd had the night before… except it was much weaker now. Something was calling him, but it was far away and pitiful. Inuyasha easily resisted as he curled into a ball, nose to tail.

Inuyasha had thought that he'd escaped the 'calling' when he'd left his world for this place. He couldn't be in the same world… it was just too different and decidedly wacky. But there it was. That same calling – faint, but present.

Perhaps this was the same world after all?

* * *

Sango blinked wide, golden orbs up at the silver moon as she flexed her whiskers idly. It was full and perfectly round, casting enough light around that it might as well have been daylight. 

How many full moons had Sango seen as a cat? Six? Ten? A hundred? She couldn't remember…

"Dah-ling!"

The black feline redirected her gaze to the pavement below her and watched as her companion came trotting forward. In a moment, Miroku had leapt up beside her and deposited his prize next to her hind foot. "I got you a present, Sango dear."

"It wasn't dead already, was it?" Sango asked suspiciously, eyeing the small mouse beside her. "You know what happened last time you ate a scavenged mouse."

Miroku stared at her blankly. Then he said, "Remind me again?"

The female cat sighed loudly. "You nearly died yourself!"

"Oh… how awful." Miroku looked genuinely concerned, but then he beamed. "Don't worry - I assure you that this one was perfectly healthy up until a few minutes ago."

"Oh, well then you shouldn't have." Sango let the catty side of her respond to Miroku's generous offer. Once upon a time, Sango would have been appalled if her boyfriend had turned up at her door with a dead mouse rather than a box of chocolates, but these days she preferred the rodents to anything else. She was honestly flattered by the gift, even though a tiny, deeply buried part of mind still refused to admit that she was a cat – reminding her that she had too much humanity to forget who she really was.

Peeking up at Miroku, who was cheerfully busying himself by washing behind his ears with a paw, Sango felt a sting of worry. He was adapting too easily, forgetting his real nature, not questioning the changes inside him. Maybe he _liked _being a cat? Was that why he was forgetting faster than Sango was…?

Miroku snapped a quizzical look on her. "Are you going to eat that or not?"

Of course, even Sango could be overwhelmed by her feline mind. She hissed, grabbed the mouse and trotted off a few feet to eat in peace.

Miroku flicked his ear – a feline shrug – and went back to licking his paw clean. "I wonder if that black dog boy will have any luck with the Higurashi girl." he said to Sango's turned back. "Do you think he's telling the truth? That he's really the guy who did this to us?"

"I don't think _he _did this to us." Sango replied, licking her lips as she finished off her meal. "I reckon that… um…" She thought hard for a moment. "Yes – the dog that stole his body is probably the one who has been going around and transforming humans into dogs… and cats. Here, do you want the tail?"

"How thoughtful of you… but no. I'm full, thanks." Miroku yawned. "I wonder what possesses someone to go around turning people into animals…?"

Sango gazed off into the bleary distance. She'd lost touch with a lot of emotions, and tonight was not a good night to try and decipher human motives - motives which she'd once understand all too clearly. "Dunno…" she sighed. "Anger… hate… jealousy…?" But that was just about all cats understood… along with irritation. Then she remembered one emotion she'd forgotten for a long time now. "Maybe he's just cruel."

It was true. Cruelty was something beyond them now… among other things.

"How very…" Miroku broke off with another yawn. "… human of him."

Sango glanced at her companion through narrowed, slit-shaped eyes. Had that been a hint of distaste in his voice?

* * *

Waking up was a bittersweet experience for Kagome. There came the pleasantly muggy half-dream state as she began to rouse, and then the glowing feeling that accompanied the stretching. 

The bitter part came when both her mother and her cat popped their heads round the bedroom door to inform her that she had to get up for school in five minutes.

"No…" Kagome croaked, pulling her pillow over her head. "I'm ill. I think I just might die."

"Well then, get up and come down for breakfast, and if you're still ill then you can go back to bed." Mrs Higurashi told her blandly. This was the normal routine for whenever Kagome or Souta got ill, but Kagome knew that by the time she got downstairs she would be feeling normal again.

Maybe that queasy feeling was the test she was dreading?

Buyo entered the room after Mrs Higurashi had gone, and pulled himself onto Kagome's bed to join her in a state of lucid laziness. "Morning, Buyo." Kagome scratched his ears fondly as the cat began to purr so violently that Kagome nearly mistook the sound for roadworks.

"Better face the music." Kagome sighed, slid Buyo onto her arm in the manner of a towel, and carried him off downstairs to greet her family at the breakfast table. "Morning." she said as she found her usual chair and deposited Buyo near his food bowl.

"Mornin'." Souta chirped, already wide awake and dressed. He was reading the kiddie's puzzle on the back of the cereal box.

"Good morning, Kagome." Grandpa responded in a slightly more mature and noble fashion. The effect was ruined, however, as he was busy cutting out interesting articles from the morning newspaper – probably his latest and most eccentric past time yet.

"Good morning, honey." Mrs Higurashi greeted her warmly. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Kagome pointed uggishly at Souta's cereal box, too busy yawning and stretching to articulate all that well. "I'll just have that… and…" She looked around. "Where's the milk?"

Her mother looked at Souta. "Souta, get the milk."

Souta looked at Buyo. "Buyo, get the milk."

Buyo looked at Grandpa. "Meow."

"Oh alright, I'll do it." Kagome staggered up from her chair and blindly made her way out of the kitchen. Unlike normal people, who had their milk delivered straight to their door, the Higurashi's had their milk delivered to the top of the shrine steps. This meant that Kagome had to tread all the way across the shrine grounds to find breakfast.

Kagome spared a look down at the street below as she bent down to pick up the milk bottles. Yep. Those two black cats were sitting there again. Still on their wall. Still staring at her. Kagome stared back for a moment before shaking her head and looking down at the milk bottles.

They were empty.

Kagome frowned deeply, opening her mouth to say something disbelieving… but words failed her. She glanced back to where the cats were, and they unerringly stared straight back. Were they to blame?

"Weird…" she muttered to herself, putting back the empty bottles before looking around in case the milkman had hid the real bottles under a nearby bush.

The nearest bush was a rhododendron. But the only thing under that was a rather large black hound.

Kagome jumped back with a sharp yelp. The dog who had, up until Kagome's scream, been sleeping quite peacefully under the bush, jumped up with a startled bark. The monstrous animal looked around hastily, trying to identify the source of its disturbance – but by then, Kagome was already hightailing it back to her house.

The school girl slammed the door shut in her wake and stumbled into the kitchen with a flourish. "Wolf!" she cried.

The Higurashi family blinked at her.

"Huh?" Souta hazarded a question.

"What's the matter, honey?" Mrs Higurashi asked anxiously as her daughter came wheezing past her to peek out the window.

"It's there – look – a wolf!" Kagome jabbed a finger against the window pane.

One by one, each of the Higurashi's came over to see what she was pointing at. "Oh, my word…" "What on _earth_…?" "It's huge!"

The 'wolf' was currently sniffing its way closer to the house.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?" Mrs Higurashi stared in amazement.

"That's not a wolf." Souta complained.

"Well, I've never seen a dog that big and ugly." Kagome admonished. "It fell down the well yesterday and I helped it escape… and now I think it's trying to kill me."

Grandpa stroked his beard. "It looks like a runaway."

"It looks _dangerous _to me." Kagome rebuked. "Maybe we should call the pound or something."

"No!" Souta cried. "They'll kill it!"

"So?" Kagome said, rather callously, even though the thought didn't really appeal to her.

By now the dog had snuffled his way over to the front door, where he sat on the porch and look expectantly up at the handle as if waiting for someone to come and let him inside. Kagome worried her lip between her teeth. "What do we do?"

"Well, _you__re _still going to school, young lady." her mother responded, watching the dog curiously. "I suppose we could always throw a string of sausages one way and run in another."

Kagome's eyebrows tilted up. "How cartoonish…"

"No, Ma." Souta shook his head thoughtfully. "That'll just give him the energy to run after us faster."

They regarded the dog silently, watching as it mindlessly scratched at something behind its ear. A flea, no doubt…

"You know…" Grandpa began, folding his hands behind his back with a light smile. "I don't think it looks all that dangerous. It probably just wants to be your friend, Kagome."

"Yuck…" The teenager pulled a face to show what she thought of that idea. "No way! It's evil – it growled at Buyo yesterday, didn't it, Buyo?… Buyo? Where's Buyo?"

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was now almost certain that he had a couple of fleas hiding away behind his ears… and maybe a few around his shoulders. They were irritating little beggars, not all that different from the bouts of nits he'd suffered as a child. At least… he remembered how irritating nits were, but he couldn't actually place a point in his life where he'd had them. Had his memory always been this bad?

A round, patched white head suddenly popped out of the tiny door before him. "No waifs or strays, thank you." the whiskered face drawled. "Whatever you're selling, we don't want to buy. Now push off."

The head vanished back through the hole, the small wooden flap clapping in its wake.

Inuyasha blinked at the odd flap. He crouched down a little and pushed his snout against the flap, forcing his way through the hole. But for some reason, only his muzzle would fit through.

He caught a strong whiff of a vaguely familiar smell.

"Hey… you're that cat from the other day." He remembered now.

"Yes, and you're that stupid dog with his nose stuck in my cat flap." There was a hiss and something pricked his tender nose. Inuyasha drew his snout out of the door sharply with a barely smothered yelp.

The cat's head popped out again to regard him. Inuyasha was almost certain that the cat was grinning… even though he wasn't sure it was a _physical _kind of grin. "What's wrong? Cat nearly got your tongue?"

A small growl was working its way up Inuyasha's throat. It was more of a perturbed sound than an aggressive one. He still wasn't used to the idea of talking to cats, of all creatures, and this one was a bit too sure of himself for comfort.

And with _that _figure, Inuyasha doubted that the cat should have been so confident.

"So…" The cat huffed as it squeezed its porky little body through the much narrower hole in the door. "What brings you back, you glorified lama, you?"

Inuyasha watched its progress through the cat flap with a grim kind of fascination. "A girl lives in this house, doesn't she?"

The fat managed to get the bulk of its fat through the door at last and slid out onto the doormat with only his tail still inside. He looked up at Inuyasha with a suspicious gaze. "Two human females live here, but I think you're referring to the one named Kagome."

"Kagome?"

"Yes, that's what I said." The cat huddled up on the mat, curving its tail around its paws. It gave Inuyasha a hard look as it put its nose out to scent the air around him. "Oh dear… what _do _you smell of?"

Inuyasha looked down and sniffed. "What are you talking about? I smell great."

"Oh, of course you do. You're a dog!" The cat hissed. "You're stinking up the whole house. I've smelt you around all night. You'd better leave before _Kagome _comes along and dumps water all over you. Wait – was that a flea?!"

"Maybe." Inuyasha shifted self-consciously. "Doesn't Kagome like dogs?"

"No, she loves them. She just doesn't like smelly, ugly creatures like you." the cat sniffed.

"Then what is she doing with a pet like you?" Inuyasha shot back.

The cat just glared at him. "Oh, I see…" it said slowly. "You're trying to do what that other mutt did, aren't you? Well, you can forget about it – there's only room enough in this house for one pet – and that's me."

"Oh, come on." Inuyasha pointed toward the house with his nose. "If you can fit in there then I'm sure I can too."

Sharp green eyes blinked back at him. "Are you saying I'm fat?"

"Yes."

"It's glandular, you know."

"Sure."

"I can't help the fact that I'm overweight."

"Well, you could try… eating less…?" Inuyasha hazarded a guess.

"Only someone as skeletally thin as you could say something like that." the cat muttered. "How would you know what it's like to be plump? You look anorexic."

"I probably am."

"Yeah, well, I don't like skinny things so you can pickle off now." The cat tapped its tail against the doormat, waiting for Inuyasha to leave. "_Ahem_."

"What? I'm not leaving till I find this girl I'm after." Inuyasha snapped.

"Then you're a bit of a muppet, aren't you?" The cat smirked.

"Why?" Inuyasha scowled at the obese little animal.

The cat's gaze flicked past him. "Because she's been sneaking past you for the last couple of minutes."

Inuyasha started and twisted around to see what the cat meant. His peripheral vision wasn't so good these days, and he'd completely missed the girl who had quietly been sneaking past the pair on the doorstep. She was already at the top of the shrine steps. "Wait!" Inuyasha barked and scampered after her, but at the sound of his voice the girl yelped and hurtled down the steps at break neck speed.

By the time Inuyasha got to the road, the girl had disappeared completely.

"How's the stalking going?!" a certain male black cat yowled from across the road.

"Oh, leave him alone." the other cat admonished. "It's not his fault he's so ugly."

_Stupid wise-ass cats… _Inuyasha padded across the road to reach the wall where the cats sat. They watched him appraisingly as he neared, probably trying to figure out whether or not he was coming over to eat them.

"Any luck?" Miroku called in a slightly less teasing manner.

"Obviously not." Sango reminded. "Judging by how fast that girl was running…"

Inuyasha limped his way to a stop below the two cats. Another sore had reopened on his paw thanks to that motley dash, and he was certainly in no mood to play victim to two teasing cats. "Which way did she go?" he panted.

"Mmmm…" Miroku purred thoughtfully, before turning his head slowly to gaze down the road to Inuyasha's right. "She went… the _right _way."

"She went right! Got it!" Inuyasha hastily trotted off in that direction, nose to the ground in an effort to catch any lingering scents, trying to find one familiar thread in a tapestry of thousands.

As soon as he was out of ear shot and around the corner, Sango leaned over to her companion with a cocked ear. "She went the _right _way?" she echoed, almost certain that the girl had turned left instead.

"Yes. The right way." Miroku grinned at her. "As opposed to the wrong way, of course."

* * *

"You certainly seemed eager to get to school today, Kagome-chan." Eri cajoled that afternoon during their P.E lesson. 

Kagome smiled back at the friend standing behind her in the queue, tucking a stray bang behind her ear. "Yeah, well there was this freaky dog hanging around outside the door and when I left, it tried to chase me." A girl a few places ahead had stepped up to take the rounder's bat and the two friends shuffled up. "It's a good thing you and your mother came by in your car; otherwise I'm sure that dog would have caught and eaten me before registration."

"Oh, Kagome." Eri admonished. "It was probably a little Chihuahua, wasn't it?"

"No way – it was like _this _tall!" Kagome put a hand to her waist. "And it was about as long as I am tall!"

"You're kidding!" Eri seemed vaguely impressed, but not in a believing sort of way. "What was it, a Wolfhound or something?"

Kagome shrugged. She didn't really know enough about dogs and the various breeds. "I don't know… it was just big, ugly and had overly large teeth."

Eri chuckled, further proof that she didn't truly believe Kagome had been in any danger. "Oh, have you heard anything about your Beau yet?"

Kagome shook her head sadly.

The line of girls had now moved along completely until it was Kagome's turn to step up and take the bat. Adjusting her sports shorts (which were actually more akin to knickers with a thick lining) to make sure her shirt was tucked in correctly, Kagome bent down to retrieve the bat that had been dropped on the dusty ground of the field and held it before her as she took position.

The P.E. teacher shouted various pieces of advice. "Feet apart – remember the triangle posture – keep your eye on the ball!"

Kagome obeyed automatically and narrowed her gaze on the bowler with the ball in hand.

_Concentrate… you can do this… concentrate on the ball, Kagome_…

The birds tweeted in the nearby trees, the boys shouted indiscernible things as they played football on the opposite end of the field, and sweat began to trickle down the back of Kagome's neck.

"No pressure, Kagome." the teacher drawled.

_No… not that… there__s something watching me…_ Kagome would have turned to scan her surroundings, but the bowler was warming up and if she turned away now she risked getting brained by the ball.

Suddenly the ball was in flight and coming at Kagome with remarkable speed. Time slowed down as Kagome judged the distance and aimed her swing as best she could.

Ball connected with bat, and a cheer erupted from Kagome's team as the ball went sailing clean over the fence and into the park of blossom trees beyond.

"Woo!" Kagome threw down her bat and took her leisurely time in making her way to first base. It wasn't often she hit a full-run, so she could afford a bit of cheeky celebration. "Who rocks?! I do! Yeah!"

Yuka, who'd been doing her stretches at third base, poked Kagome playfully as she passed. "Now who's going to get that ball, you idiot." She grinned.

Ayumi, at fourth base, broke through the sounds of cheering. "How about that dog?"

Kagome glanced at the timid looking Ayumi as the sounds of cheering ended almost abruptly. Soon everyone was looking in the same direction… and Kagome followed their gaze with building dread.

That _monster_ was there. It sat on the other side of the fence with a ball in its mouth – the very ball that Kagome had just sent over there.

It had retrieved it.

"Uh… let's get back inside, girls." The teacher's voice warbled fearfully. "Hena, get the bats. Yuka, get the balls and the poles. Back inside, everyone!"

None of the girls felt the urge to hang around while that dog was loose. With sharp haste they turned heel and began power-walking back towards the school. Only Kagome seemed frozen to the spot and refused to tear her gaze away from the dog.

"You followed me… didn't you?" she whispered.

The dog blinked at her, then slowly dropped the ball on the ground and gave a mighty yawn – displaying every single one of its fangs in the process. Kagome gulped as she realised that she had effectively been left behind. She quickly turned, intending to catch up with her classmates.

The whining stopped her.

Pivoting to face the dog again, she frowned. "Was that you?"

The hideous creature turned its head to the left, then the right, almost as if to say "You talkin' to me?"

"Of course that was you, you're the only dog here." Kagome took a cautious step forward. "Don't you have a home or a master to go to?"

The dog watched her approach keenly. Kagome stopped dead and pursed her lips. "What's the matter then? Why have you been following me everywhere?"

The fact that she'd halted seemed to make the creature anxious. It whined again, urging her on, and Kagome almost instinctively complied. The dog was on the other side of the chain-link fence… there was no way it could get to her, right?

Ever so slowly, whilst trying hard not to make any sudden movements, Kagome crouched down a short distance from the fence until she was eye level with the creature. "Are you a friendly dog?" she asked, putting a tentative hand out to show she was harmless, even if it wasn't.

The dog looked at her hand, then looked back at her face. At least it wasn't growling or making any attempt to pounce at her, fence or no fence. Kagome took this as a promising sign and inched a little closer. "What's the matter? Do you need a vet?"

But despite the fact that the dog looked like a walking corpse, it didn't seem to need any kind of _immediate _medical attention. Its fur was so matted that it looked as if slabs of carpet were hanging from its hide, but this did nothing to disguise the prominent way the spine protruded from its back, or the way the ribs stuck out from the flanks

Maybe it looked more hungry than evil…?

"Do you want food?" she asked.

The dog almost stood up again, its tail giving the tiniest of wags. Kagome figured that it must have spent time with humans enough to know the word 'food'. She guessed it was probably an old timer on its last legs, cast aside by an owner who wanted a younger, prettier dog.

Pity welled up within her, even though it was hard to sympathise with something so… cross looking.

"I'm sorry, I don't have anything with me." She showed her hands to prove this. "But… I guess… if you're still here by the time school finishes then I'll buy you a burger or something. Then will you leave me alone?"

What could only be described as an intense light of hope shone in the dog's golden eyes. Kagome felt herself soften a little more. "Maybe a side order of fries as well…" There was something warm about those eyes, a softness that belied the rest of the body.

The school bell rung behind her and Kagome straightened, knowing that she should already be getting changed into her uniform for the next lesson. "Catch you later, doggy." She gave a little wave before jogging back towards the school entrance. She turned to look over her shoulder every now and then, only to see the dog watching her with the same eagerness as before. Again, Kagome felt sorry for it.

It was still there an hour later when Kagome was sitting in her history class. She was three floors up, and even though she was beside the window the dog hadn't noticed her. Even so, it stayed by the fence vigilantly and lay down with the cherry blossoms.

"Someone's got an admirer." Yuka cackled quietly as she leaned over to follow Kagome's gaze. "He's taken a shine to you."

"It fell down the well in our wellhouse last night…" Kagome mused. "Someone's probably neglected it."

"Are you sure he isn't feral?" Yuka cautioned. "Might have rabies or something. Sure looks evil enough."

Kagome shrugged and ignored the warning. "How do you know it's a boy?"

"A girl could never be that blasé about their appearance." Yuka snipped out. "Obviously male."

This came from the girl who had collected three female dogs, each of them having more money spent on their appearance than the humans of the household. Kagome smiled slightly and went back to listening to the teacher. She didn't want to fail another history test on the Sengoku Jidai.

* * *

That girl sure was taking her sweet time about finishing this 'school' business. Inuyasha lay down on the grass and waited… 

…and waited…

Then for kicks, he caught the scent of some ground-walking bird and padded off to track the damn thing, unaware that the pigeon in question was only a few metres ahead of him the whole time. His nose told him what he needed to know and tearing it off the ground for even a moment to use his eyes seemed to be a waste of time.

The bird eventually outsmarted him and flew off into a tree. Then it was back to the fence for Inuyasha.

A few groups of children were still out playing the strange games of this world, but for some reason they didn't want to stray too close to the fence where Inuyasha sat. The dog was glad the humans kept their distance, though. Humans had a very odd smell compared to other animals, and Inuyasha wasn't sure he liked it. Plus, he didn't want to associate with any more teenage girls than necessary.

But eventually that ghastly loud bell rung off in the building, and before long there were people streaming out of the doors. Inuyasha sat up hastily and tried to scan the crowd of humans to pick out the girl who had promised him a "burger" and "fries".

It was perturbing to realise that the humans all began to look the same.

The only way he would catch her would be if he caught her scent… and that meant getting closer to the gates that the kids were leaving through. Hastily, in fear that he'd already missed her, Inuyasha stood up and padded off towards the flood of kids… unconscious of the fact that he'd picked up the rounder's ball in his mouth and was toting it along with him for no explainable reason.

One or two youths saw his approach first and their squeals and yelps alerted the rest of the humans. By the time Inuyasha reached the gate, he'd cleared a nice straight path. Planting his rear bang in the middle of the two gate posts, Inuyasha dropped his ball and carefully scented the air for a sign of "Kagome".

Her scent was there… but it was old. She hadn't been through here since morning.

Inuyasha was quite uncaring to the fact that he'd now cornered off an entire school of children by sitting at the only exit. He scratched his shoulders and shook his head, oblivious to the kids behind him looking on anxiously at their friends who were still stuck inside the school gates. Everyone was too scared to inch past him.

"Is that a dog or a _wolf_?" someone asked someone else.

"I think we should get a teacher…"

"_I _think we should get the dog catchers!"

"Do you think it's vicious…?"

"Who's it waiting for?"

"Is it a stray?"

Inuyasha ignored the twittering voices around him and concentrated on finding that lone scent among hundreds of others. Occasionally a youth or an adult would approach him, trying to shoo him out of the way, but all Inuyasha had to do was growl and snap at their hands to keep them at bay.

He effectively held the entire school hostage.

Then he caught her scent.

Inuyasha darted his eyes towards the crowd gathered inside the school gates. Was that her? The one standing slightly apart from the others who stared at him in utter horror and despair?

"Is that you?" he called to her, but all that came out was a slightly inquisitive "Woof!"

The girl jumped and suddenly she was moving towards him. "What are you doing?!" she hissed under her breath as she neared him. "You're holding up the entire student body!"

"I want my food now." Inuyasha stood and found his tail automatically wagging at the thought of a full stomach. "Let's go!"

"I guess you want that burger, don't you?" The human girl sighed and sagged slightly, then moved past him to continue on her way. Her classmates jumped aside to make room for her as Inuyasha tottered after.

"Is that _your _dog, Kagome?!" someone shouted.

"No!" was the girl's angry response. Her stride didn't break as she marched off down the pavement, away from the others.

"I thought her dog went missing."

"Nah, that ain't her dog. She had a small terrier, right?"

These voices soon faded as Inuyasha followed Kagome down the street, and he noticed how the girl's posture became less rigid the further away from the school they went. She also began to slow down a little, and Inuyasha was forced to adjust his own pace to match hers. "Don't forget the food, girl." he reminded as he drew alongside her. "You promised me food."

She didn't seem to hear his words and merely glanced at him blankly before turning her eyes back to the pavement.

She seemed upset.

She seemed to miss her old dog.

Inuyasha didn't bother her after that. She was obviously taking him somewhere since she hadn't tried to lose him yet, and Inuyasha almost pranced in anticipation. The promise of food was making his stomach ache so hard that he found it hard to control himself. It was almost too much.

The route that the girl chose took them across many roads and down crowded street walkways. People gave the girl and the dog a wide berth, but only the girl seemed to notice and flushed with embarrassment. The smell of cooking food was ever present in this part of the town, and Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from salivating when the most predominant smell was meat…

He had to admit that he was getting quite concerned at the fact that they were actually walking _past _most of the shops and stalls that sold food.

His patience bore fruit when Kagome suddenly veered off towards a shop doorway with the word "WacDonalds" pasted across the front. "Wait here." she told Inuyasha, before disappearing inside.

Inuyasha pressed his nose against the window and watched her closely, not wanting to miss a second of the action. The girl joined an agonisingly slow queue inside the shop, and Inuyasha licked his lips as his attention was drawn to a small girl who as eating something rather juicy looking only a few feet away from him. He stared at the little girl, but the little girl was probably too little to understand fear and evil, and so didn't shy away from the window as several others had already done. She _did,_ however, seem to understand the concept of mental torture. She grinned at Inuyasha as she chewed her food ever so slowly.

Inuyasha was so enraptured with the little girl's food, that he barely noticed when the big girl came back.

"Here." she said shortly as she unwrapped a parcel of paper and crouched down to lay it on the pavement. "Enjoy."

Inuyasha didn't even bother to say thank you as he lunged at the alien-like food and began wolfing it down. It may have been poison, it may have been unhealthy, or it may not have been food at all, but it certainly smelt wonderful and edible. Inuyasha wasted no time with manners and simply tore his way through the burger.

It was gone in thirty seconds, but Inuyasha spent almost a full minute sniffing around the paper and the ground for an extra crumb that he may have missed. By the time he raised his head, the girl was gone.

* * *

A/N: The next chapter is 50 done. Stay tuned... 


	4. Hoodwinked

**Author's Notes**: Thank you everyone who waited patiently for this chapter. Not so much appreciation goes to the people who got impatient and started making demands and threats. (Those people who wrote those reviews may be unpleasantly surprised to find they've been deleted and possibly blacklisted.) So just enjoy the chapter and please don't ask about update schedules and the possible lack of updates in this fic and certain others (including Zero-G) that may be brought on with updating CC. Frankly, it's annoying to update only to get reviews asking why I haven't updated something else. I'm trying my best, so let's just leave it at that.

* * *

**Creature Comforts**

**Chapter Four**

**Hoodwinked**

**

* * *

**

"Uh oh… looks like she gave him the slip." Sango stretched languidly in a patch of sun as she watched a rather melancholic schoolgirl make her way up the shrine steps.

"Let's face it." Miroku commented. "That dog's a lost cause. She's utterly terrified of him. He'll probably be dead with starvation by the end of the week."

"True…" Sango let her tail dangle off the edge of the wall, swishing the tip in a lazy pattern. At times like these, she could forget about her human woes and just bask in the simpleness of her cat nature. Sunlight, warmth and relaxation equalled the highest pleasure a cat could attain, and Sango's purr rattled loudly in proof.

Miroku, on the other hand, was keeping himself hidden away under the shady overhanging of the nearest bush.

"Are you still hiding from that dog?" Sango drawled with amusement.

"Scabby little mongrel," Miroku seethed quietly. "Took one look at me and then chased me through half the neighbourhood. If the hot dog vendor hadn't peddled past, I would have been stuck up that bleeding tree all day!"

Sango rolled over until she was looking down at her friend. "Was it a human with dogification?"

"Probably." Miroku's tail twitched angrily. "All it did was bark. Normal dogs are slightly more talkative than human dogs. It was most likely a newbie at the dog thing…"

"Oh!" Sango suddenly sprang upright.

"What!" Miroku bounded up onto the wall.

"Look!" Sango cocked her head. "He's back!"

Miroku followed her gaze, expecting to see the black dog that was taking centre stage in their latest entertainment, but almost balked at who he saw. "Is that… is that Kouga?" he hissed.

"Seems so…"

The human youth that they suspected to be Kouga was making his way down the pavement towards them. Being trawled behind him was a bag full of newspapers on wheels, and today he seemed less nude than usual.

"He's got his old job back." Sango pointed out.

"Good for him." Miroku's tail began twitching again.

The two cats watched Kouga almost menacingly as he toddled closer, dragging his newspapers in his wake. Every now and then, he would stop at a house to deliver a paper then move onto the next. He seemed to be keeping a wary eye on the entrance of the Higurashi shrine.

"Probably still has puppy eyes for the Higurashi girl," Miroku commented loudly.

Kouga suddenly stopped dead, his gaze shooting directly to where the two cats sat. At this reaction, both Sango and Miroku perked up and leaned out curiously. "Oi!" Miroku called again. "Do you speak-a any Cat-anese-a!"

Kouga stared at them for a moment too long before forcing his gaze to move onward. He stopped at the gate of the next house, the house whose garden wall Miroku and Sango had named their own, and delivered the paper whilst studiously ignoring the cats.

"How rude!" Miroku admonished.

"Minimum wage, Miroku." Sango gave an unsubtle sigh. "He's not paid to be polite to people like us-"

Kouga suddenly whipped around. "People like you!" he shouted. "You're just a bunch of cats!"

Sango and Miroku blinked back at him calmly.

"My, my…" Miroku appraised. "He seems to understand us still."

Kouga seemed to bite down on his tongue and then stormed off to retrieve his bag of newspapers, forgetting to deliver one to the current address. He stomped past the cats with his head turned the other way.

"In denile!" Miroku warbled in a sing-song voice. "A river in Egypt-!"

"Shut up!" Kouga snapped, stopping short to turn on the cats. "You're not actually talking – it's all just in my mind!"

"The only things in your mind are a couple of dust bunnies," Sango pointed out honestly.

"And if we're in your mind," Miroku began, "then have you just forgotten that you've been a dog for the past few weeks?"

"I wasn't a dog!" the boy hissed. "I was having a nervous breakdown from stress."

"Oh, the stress of delivering papers? My heart bleeds for you," Miroku shot back. "How about some sympathy here? You may have found salvation, but _we're _still stuck as cats!"

"You're not cats… you're just figments of my imagination."

"On the contrary – _you're _just a figment of _my _imagination," the male cat declared.

"Miroku, stop trying to confuse him," Sango reprimanded dryly. "He's only a simple creature."

"Wait…" Kouga suddenly glanced uncertainly between the two felines. "Which one of you is Sango and which one is Miroku?"

"I'm Sango." said Miroku.

"I'm Miroku." said Sango, doubling back on her earlier reprimand.

"Ah… thought so." Kouga nodded. "You cats all look the same to me."

The virtually identical cats glared, equally offended.

"Anyway, don't come crying to me that you're still cats." Kouga jabbed a finger at himself. "You should have listened to me and done what I did – but no – you were too good for that! I mean – not that any of that happened, ok!"

And with this speech done and dusted, the paper boy flounced off with his barrage of newspapers. Miroku tutted and wrapped his tail closely about his toes. "Can you believe his cheek? 'Cats all look the same' – bah! How racist! I mean, I can understand how you might make that mistake with humans because they _do _all look alike, but cats? How can you _not _tell us apart!"

Sango rolled her eyes and feigned unnatural interest in the moss growing on the wall beside her. She let Miroku rant; he was obviously having a bad day, what with being chased by a dog and all that. It wasn't until she saw a familiar black shadow hobbling down the street towards them that she poked Miroku to interrupt him. "Hey, look."

"Ohhh…" Miroku's temper faded in an instant.

Inuyasha had tracked the girl home using his nose again. She may have given him the slip for the second time, but as long as he had this nose, she could run but never hide. He spotted the two smarmy cats and, encouraged by his previous success, went over to rub it in their faces a little.

"Given up yet?" Miroku drawled.

"And why would I do that," Inuyasha shot back, "when I've already won her over?"

"Won her over?" Sango echoed. "Already?"

"She felt sorry for me and gave me a burglar to eat."

Miroku leaned over to Sango. "_I think he meant 'burger'._" He stage-whispered in her ear.

"Either way, it won't be long before she's falling over herself to pander to my every whim." Inuyasha sat down and scratched his neck. "And maybe she can do something about these fleas?"

Miroku and Sango inched away down the wall.

"Well, congratulations." Sango praised him grudgingly. "Now all you need to do is convince the rest of her family that you're worth taking on. Then you have to convince Buyo to let you stay."

"Buyo?" Inuyasha snorted. "I could snap him in half with my teeth."

Miroku shook his head sadly. "And that's exactly the kind of attitude that will get you kicked out."

"If you don't get on with Buyo, there's no way in hell the family will bother adopting you." Sango pointed out as she began washing behind one ear. "God, even Kouga had to work to keep in Buyo's good book. That's why we're a lost cause. Buyo won't abide other cats."

"Unless they're female." Miroku added. "Hey, maybe you should try and worm your way into his heart and give him a good word about me."

Sango skewed a glare at her partner. "We _had _this conversation," she ground out.

"… we did?"

"Yes!"

"And how did it go?"

"You said we shouldn't try it!"

"I did?" Miroku frowned, which was very difficult with a cat's facial muscles. "That's not like me… are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Well, obviously I wasn't thinking straight," he concluded. "Go with Inuyasha here and make friends with the fat cat."

Sango make a disgusted noise in her throat and turned to Inuyasha. "Just go on your own and keep in mind what we said. Be nice, be loveable and, if possible, bathe."

"You cats and your hang-ups about smells…" Inuyasha groused as he got to his feet and crossed the quiet road. He left the two bickering felines behind as he made his way up the steps until he was at the entrance of the shrine itself. There was an old man, related to Kagome by the smell of things, who was sweeping up leaves a few metres away, but he had yet to notice Inuyasha.

The spectral dog slid past him with ease and continued through the shrine grounds until he emerged behind the shrine office to where Kagome's house lay. No one was about… other than the obese cat. However, when Inuyasha got closer to the porch, he realised that the feline was actually fast asleep, basking in the sun and unaware that Inuyasha loomed over him. He just continued purring as his dreams took him pleasant places.

Inuyasha didn't bother waking him, as he was more interested in the fact that the front door had been left wide open by some careless individual. He stepped over the cat and entered the house as silently as a trained assassin.

The doors off the hallway were closed and shuttered, but at the end of the hall was a woman working in a kitchen of sorts. Inuyasha didn't recognise her, and since he was focusing solely on the girl 'Kagome', he decided to pass her by as he continued his search upstairs.

There were two rooms up here. One door open, one door closed. Fortunately, the girl's smell seemed to emanate from the room with the open door, so he picked his way towards it, glad that the floor coverings muffled the clicking of his claws.

* * *

"_…a pulse of silence suffused in a moment…_"

Kagome cupped her chin in her palm as she gazed at the tree covered hill outside her window.

"_…hell's tears fall through a rent and wounded heaven…_"

Her eyes turned towards the clear sky and its open blue expanse.

"_…crimson blood stains my face…_"

With a groan, Kagome dropped her forehead down onto her 'creative writing' homework. No matter how hard she tried, she just didn't understand what the poem meant or signified. Something to do with religion? War? Death? With the last line omitted, Kagome didn't have a clue what to think of it.

Well, it was ok for now. The assignment didn't have to be in for two weeks… but that was one week to figure out the meaning and then another week to prattle on for a few pages about her theories.

_Maybe I should go cheat and look the poem up online to find out what it means_… Kagome mused, twiddling her pencil between her fingers. This plan of action would mean a trip to the library, and since it was probably too far to make the trip that afternoon, Kagome decided to go tomorrow instead.

_Might as well just relax tonight_…

With a great yawn, Kagome sat up in her chair and stretched her arms far above her head. It hadn't been a wonderfully planned move, as she suddenly found her pencil tumbling from buttery fingers and her textbook flopping onto her lap. Kagome gave a dispassionate grunt and reset her books and papers before leaning down to rummage across the floor for her pencil – going by touch rather than sight.

Her fingers met something rather wet and snotty.

"Buyo…?" Kagome guessed immediately, twisting around to see where her fingers were.

They were, of course, halfway up a monster dog's nostrils.

There came a certain point in fear where the fright was so great that it transcended fear, shock and horror, until there was no fear, shock or horror to be felt. Kagome reached this point the moment she locked eyes with the dog, suddenly finding she was too paralysed to even dream about screaming and running out of the room.

A small, petrified segment of her mind was already wondering why the dog hadn't eaten her yet.

"What… are… you… _doing here_?" Kagome whispered breathlessly. "I thought you'd leave me alone once I gave you food!"

The dog cocked its head and gave her an expectant look. This was where Kagome realised her fatal mistake. In giving the stray a burger, she'd inadvertently given it the impression that she would give it more food sooner or later.

"No… no, no!" Kagome stood up and flung out her arms. "I can't feed you! You're huge – you'll cost a bomb! Plus, Mama really won't want a dog as big as you hanging around. Go find someone richer with a bigger house!"

The dog dropped the pencil carefully on the floor before looking up at her again, imploringly.

"Stop that! No puppy eyes, you old hound!" she snapped and jabbed a finger at her door. "Go on – get out!"

The dog's only response was to lie down. It looked up at her from the floor, giving an uncanny impression of someone prostrating themselves… or simply saying "Make me!" Kagome had an inkling that perhaps this dog knew more words than just 'food'.

If it had been any other kind of dog, Kagome might have prodded it with her ruler to make it leave… yet she still didn't trust this one not to turn around and bite her hand off. The only remaining option was to hop around the room, waving her arms in an effort to motivate the dog. However, this did little more than elicit a stupefied look from the black dog.

Kagome gave up her interpretive jazz dance and planted her hands on her hips. Downstairs she could hear her mother moving around the kitchen, and outside her window she could hear Souta talking to Grandpa about his day at school. There was little to no chance of sneaking this enormous creature out of the house undetected. Even if the dog was safe to manhandle, Kagome never had, and never would, possess the strength to shift that hound's rear.

It was time to test just how sophisticated this animal's language skills were.

"Ok, look…" Kagome sighed, pretending to admit defeat. "If you go outside and wait by the door, I'll bring you some food in five minutes."

Inuyasha wasn't fooled for a moment. "You're just trying to kick me out," he accused quietly, remaining on the floor. "Give me food, and _then _I'll go outside, you silly bitch."

It was a shame the girl couldn't understand. If she could speak dog, then maybe she would have been tripping over herself to bring him food… or maybe – just maybe – she would have smacked him around the ear for the 'bitch' comment.

"Fine – I'll go down to the kitchen and get the food _now _if you'll just go outside and stay outside." Kagome pointed emphatically at the door. "You're too big to hole up in this house!"

True, very true. But what was to stop the girl from slamming the door in his face, refusing him food, and then calling the dog-catching people to come and chase him away? He was going to have to take an awful lot on faith here… and perhaps it wasn't a good idea to piss off the one person who might possibly be able to help him.

"Whatever. You better not be lying, girl." Inuyasha slowly rose to his feet and stiffly padded his way out of the room, followed by an anxiously tiptoeing Kagome. The dog loped down the stairs and made his way through the hall towards the main door. Just as he reached the step, he turned and looked over his shoulder to be certain the girl was keeping up her end of the bargain – and sure enough, there she was, fumbling around the kitchen behind the other woman. The other woman, presumably, was her mother.

Inuyasha moved to sit patiently on the porch.

Buyo was still there, snoring his chubby little heart out and purring so hard that it sounded as if something had come loose inside of him. Inuyasha discreetly rolled his eyes at the typical laziness of all cats and reached out with one paw to prod the cat in the belly.

The cat snorted. "Urk – what…" He blinked owlishly as he looked around for the perpetrator who'd disturbed his nap. When his eyes landed on Inuyasha, they narrowed considerably. "Oh no… it's _you _again."

"You don't sound so happy to see me."

"Why should I be happy to see scruff like you sneaking around?"

Inuyasha bristled. "I'm not sneaking." Well, not anymore.

Buyo yawned arrogantly and flicked his tail in annoyance. "I don't know why you're bothering," he said at last. "You seem to be under the illusion that Kagome will take any scurvy little mongrel with a bad case of mange under her wing. She _does _have standards, you-"

"Here you go, fella."

Both cat and dog jerked around to see Kagome standing behind them with a plate of mashed up chicken. "Leftovers from last night," she explained to Inuyasha with a shrug. "I'm sure you can make do with that."

Buyo froze. "Kagome – no – Kagome, what are you doing? You'll just encourage him! Stop it!"

Either Kagome didn't hear him, or was simply ignoring him. She placed the saucer of chicken down on the porch before Inuyasha and slipped back inside, closing the door in her wake. Buyo was left to glare at Inuyasha balefully as the dog wolfed his food down with a hint of irony.

The chicken was gone in a matter of seconds, and then Inuyasha lifted his head, smacked his lips, and gave Buyo a haughty sneer.

"Well, I hope you're happy." Buyo sneered right back and slunk away across the porch, his belly close to the floor… or just closer than usual.

Inuyasha shook his mane and gave his fleas a good scratch, happy in the knowledge that his stomach was slightly fuller than it had been. He was done sucking up to the human girl… at least for today, so now he could afford to make some time to himself.

From her bedroom window, Kagome watched him trot away until she was satisfied the old black dog was gone. But honestly, the way that cat and dog stared at each other, anyone would think they were holding a conversation.

The schoolgirl pushed away from the window with a mild sigh and moved to lie down on her bed. She stared up at the glow-in-the-dark moons and stars she had stuck to her ceiling when she was a child. They were still there, reminding her of happier times, even though their glow had been diminished somewhat over the years.

Perhaps she was feeling the loss of her father today… or perhaps she was still missing Beau? Or maybe it was simply the daunting poem that was getting her down?

However, she could always rely on _someone _to make her bad day worse.

Kagome knew who the caller was the moment her phone starting singing the Funeral March. She had different tunes for each of her friends and family. Yuka was the Blue Danube, Ayume was the Birdie Song, and Hojo was Tubthumping, which Kagome found all rather appropriate. Likewise, the Funeral March went quite nicely with the person who was calling her now, so she ignored it and closed her eyes. He would undoubtedly call back again in a few minutes and then leave a few dozen messages on her voicemail, wondering where she was and if she would like to go to the cinema some time. Messages to which Kagome would carefully avoid answering. If he ever caught her on the street, she would simply say that she'd lost her phone. Again.

Why was it that she always attracted the ones who were hardest to shake off?

She'd attempted to lose this particular piece of work by telling him that she already had feelings for a certain ginger-haired teenager by the name of Hojo. But that hadn't deterred him.

Where was Hojo anyway? Kagome pondered. She hadn't seen him in school that day, and the only reason Hojo would ever miss a class was if he'd been sold into slavery by his parents and was stuck down a Mongolian mineshaft somewhere. Or perhaps Mr Funeral March had done just that to rid himself of competition.

But that was just preposterous.

The funeral march continued to drill through her mind…

* * *

"Miroku?"

"Mm?"

"Do you ever think about… time?"

The male cat lifted his head off the wall and twitched his tail. "You mean like rosemary and stuff?"

Sango pinned his head back down to the bricks with a paw to continue washing his ears. "No, I mean the past, future and present," she said between licks. "I mean, if this very instant is the 'now', then what really is 'time'? 'Now' becomes the past in a matter of seconds… but then what constitutes 'now'? How long is 'now' considered to be? A day? A minute? A tiny fraction of a millisecond? And how long does it take the future to become the present? When you think about it… what if our perception of time is wrong? What if it's not linear and it just goes in a big circle and all these moments are recycled until nothing exists but the present. There is no past, there is no future… just what we perceive…"

"Awesome," Miroku purred. "Did you see how far that flea jumped? That little blighter isn't coming back any time soon…"

Sango bit into his ear, hard enough to make Miroku yowl and dash a paw at her nose. He kept his claws sheathed. "What was that for?" he hissed.

"You're not listening to me!" she accused. "And you didn't tell me you had fleas."

"I _was _listening, I just don't get it!" he snapped back. "Besides… I can't help it that fleas are sexually attracted to me. I have very sweet blood. And anyway, what brought this 'time' nonsense on?"

Sango settled back down, crouched in a tense ball. "You realise that cats don't live as long as humans, right?"

"Of course," Miroku blinked at her, puzzled.

"How long do you reckon we've been cats then?"

Miroku closed his eyes and thought hard. Any onlooker would assume that he'd fallen asleep sitting upright, but any cat knows that to work out difficult mathematical problems, one must close one's eyes and snooze. Eventually, he roused and twitched his whiskers. "Three or four years, maybe…"

"Try six months," Sango responded flatly. "We both got turned on the day of the Autumn Equinox… but that was over six months ago, Miroku! I saw the date at the newspaper vendor's today. We've only been cats for half a year!"

"Seems longer," he said slowly.

"Exactly…" Sango sighed miserably and curled into a ball. "We're growing older with every month, and the rest of the world stays young. We'll probably die before we find a way to turn ourselves back. And what if we _do _get turned back in a couple of years when we're old cats? Will we be pensioners when our friends are still going to college?"

"There's no point fretting about it, Sango," Miroku comforted, curling up next to her so their ears touched. "We'll find a way to get our bodies back. Remember Kouga?"

"I'm surprised_ you _do," she retorted.

Miroku ignored her. "He understands us. Maybe in time he'll be able to help us."

Sango sighed. "He thinks he's crazy." She thought for a moment. "_I _think he's crazy."

"But he got turned back. If we hound him, maybe he'll tell us how it happened?"

"That's what we're using the monster dog for, isn't it?" She peered at him. "Hopefully, if the same thing happens to him, we'll know it's not just a fluke. And maybe he'll be able to explain it better than Kouga…"

"Possibly." Miroku blinked towards the shrine. "And here he comes now."

Sango followed his gaze to spy the gaunt black dog hobbling down the shrine steps towards the road. Judging by his pleased swagger, she could guess that he'd been successful in whatever he'd set out to accomplish.

"Quite the charismatic fellow, aren't you?" Miroku called to him. "What did you get off her this time?"

"Chicken," the black dog responded.

"Oh," Sango sighed mournfully. "I love chicken. Didn't bring any back for us, did you?"

Inuyasha sat down. "What have you done for me lately?" he shot back and began scratching enthusiastically at his ear with a hind paw. He let out an audible groan of irritation as the pesky fleas evaded him.

"Uh…" Miroku shifted on the wall. "I wouldn't sit there if I were you."

"Why not?" Inuyasha asked, looking down at the tarmac road on which he'd positioned himself.

But the cat's reasoning soon became apparent as a large metal carriage suddenly came belting around a street corner. Loud music poured from its windows, an obnoxious sound that gained volume as the vehicle bore down on Inuyasha. For a moment, he was too stunned and bewildered to move. His canine mind had gone blank in shock.

"Humans don't always stop for animals!" Miroku yowled. "Get out of the way, you stupid dog!"

Sango's fur stood on end. "What's the matter with you!"

The resounding scream of a dog seemed to merge with the shriek of tyres, making a noise that sent shivers down every creature's spine for a mile.

* * *

/end chapter lalalalala… 


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